Palworld has sold 7 million copies in just 5 days and skyrocketed in the Steam charts. Some people even expect it to beat PUBGs record of 3.2 million concurrent players if it continues to rise in popularity like this. But there is also a huge controversy emerging around Palworld copying the famous Pokemon series. The way the Pals are designed makes them look a lot like the real pocket monsters, but does that automatically mean it’s a rip-off?
PocketPairs Game Philosophy
Before we dive into the depths of Palworld and its gameplay let’s take a quick look at the very company behind it: PocketPair Inc. PocketPair is an independent game studio founded by Takuro Mizobe that is based in Tokyo, Japan.
They’ve already released other titles in the past like the popular game Craftopia, AI: Art Imposter and Overdungeon. Aside from Palworld they also plan to release their newest addition Never Grave in the early year of 2024.
In the past they’ve already been part of discussions about them having copied stuff from other games. Craftopia for example has been framed for being a copy of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild when it first came out. But neither Nintendo nor the negative voices cancelled the game. In fact because of its wild collection of different game mechanics it became quite popular in its niche.
It’s very common for studios, especially newer ones, to take inspiration from already existing titles and give them their own unique twist. PocketPair is no exception. There is nothing wrong with it either. Taking inspiration from already existing sources has and always will be a part of developing games and designs. As long as the design is distinct enough from the original, it should be fine. But this is where the controversy around Palworld started. Are their Pal designs far enough away from their Pokemon counterparts?
Borrowing Inspiration or Blatant Copycat
Copying is some sort of flattery. While Palworld didn’t exactly copy Pokemon’s designs one to one, there is no denying that they have taken heavy inspiration from the Nintendo Franchise. There are a lot of Pals that look like a mix of multiple Pokemon together while some others indeed look like a clear rip-off from the originals. Even the style is very close to the famous pocket monsters.
It’s a very daring approach to keep the style and their designs so close to Nintendo’s Pokemon. Especially since Nintendo is famous for its radical way of dealing with copycats. But here is the thing… Palworld is not one of the cheap rip-offs Nintendo has dealt with in the past.
Palworlds Gameplay
Gameplay-wise Palworld only borrowed certain elements from Pokemon but that’s about it. It plays and feels nothing like the usual Pokemon games. I mean you can use a gun to shoot the creatures and even equip them with it. You can make them work in factories, feed them and the Pals can even get sick or injured because of it.
While their monster designs are questionable, the rest of the game differentiates itself a lot from the original Pokemon games. You can craft items, build your own base, cook food and travel the world together with your friends. Like in his predecessor Craftopia you can also climb up mountains and have to repair your items that slowly use durability while you play. You were even able to capture monsters with monster prisms in Craftopia. Just like you can use the Pal spheres to capture creatures (and even humans) in Palworld.
So why do people suddenly complain about Palworld being a rip-off if Craftopia already did the same?
Associating Styles With Other IPs
Some IPs (Intellectual Property) have a very unique style tied to them. For example, the popular Arcane series from Riot Games stands out a lot with its painterly 3D visual, as well as the Dragon Quest games that have the same style as the Dragon Ball animes thanks to Akira Toriyama, the artist who created their designs. If you would show someone a picture of a character drawn in the same style as them, they would immediately associate it with the original thanks to the popularity of the franchises.
This is exactly what happened with Palworld. The problem with why people are so upset is not because it’s a game that has similar mechanics to Pokemon. No. But because the designs are so close to the original that the Pals seem like the usual fan-made rip-offs. Or have you heard someone complaining about the Pal sphere that’s used to catch the monsters?
I’m not saying that their designs are bad or cheap, by all means! There are a lot of Pals that look better than many of the most recent Pokemon designs, at least in my opinion. But as a concept artist myself I have to admit that their designs have too many similarities with their original source. A Twitter/X user by the name @byofrog compared models from both games with each other and it seems that some parts and proportions are exactly the same. But for now lets give them the benefit of the doubt.
Nobody likes it if someone takes credit for copying a design from one of their favorite monsters or characters and Pokemon being as popular as it is… It’s no surprise that people get upset about it.
Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal
This very wise quote comes from none other than Pablo Picasso himself. It’s a sentence we artists learn pretty early in our careers. It basically means that if you take inspiration from something, don’t just copy it one by one but take their concept and turn it into your own. Give it your personal twist that makes the design unique to you. Take what you like and piece it together: the eyes from artist x, the body from artist y and the clothes from artist z. This is how a lot of people create their unique style. But you can’t and shouldn’t just take inspiration from only one source.
Nowadays there is hardly a design that has never been done before or that is completely new and groundbreaking. Everything has roots in something that already existed before. Be it natural, man-made or even AI generated. In the case of Palworld it was a missed opportunity that they didn’t develop their own style based on Pokemon.
In the industry people usually avoid taking inspiration from real brands or else they risk getting sued or called out for product placement. But taking on the style of a multi-billion dollar company? That’s very daring and risky. Especially if the company in question is Nintendo which has been infamous for being overprotective about their intellectual property.
A Game In Its Own Rights
Personally I think Palworld is not a cheap Pokemon rip-off as people make it out to be (as long as we don’t look too closely at the Pal design). Either way, Palworld is the competitor Nintendo needs to finally wake up from its slumber. According to a lot of hardcore fans, the quality of Pokemon games has decreased over the past few years because they probably felt too safe without any rivals in their field.
While I could personally live without the guns and with more fantasy-like weaponry to fit the theme, I think it’s great that there finally is a Pokemon-esque computer. TemTem is also a very nice addition to this niche but it didn’t make quite the impact then Palworld. So, maybe now more people are going to find the courage to challenge the Pokemon giant Nintendo in their own game.
At this point in time all we can do is hope that Nintendo won’t shut Palworld down because of their design parallels to Pokemon. Just because something looks similar to another game it shouldn’t automatically be called a rip-off.
If Palworld would have had arenas, trainer battles and other mechanics from Pokemon then maybe. But like we mentioned above, their gameplay is completely different from the original. If anything then the Pals are an homage to Nintendo’s Pokemon. Even a slight parody of the kid-friendly pocket monsters the way they can be treated as slaves or even gun turrets.
After all this we can say for sure, that Palworld has taken a huge inspiration (maybe a bit too much cough cough) from Pokemon. But all in all it’s a game that stands on its own and not a rip-off. Pocketpair has taken a huge risk by going in this direction. I hope for their own good, that Nintendo is just going to give them the benefit of the doubt and let Palworld be Palworld. After all… A company can’t own a genre nor its style.
Not every game can get this popular overnight, even if it used to be the most wish-listed game of all time on Steam like The Day Before. If you want to know more about it, you can read it in this article over here:
The Day Before – A Game Studios Worst Nightmare
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