The Pokémon Company just dropped a statement about Palworld, you know, that survival game everyone’s calling “Pokémon With Guns”? It’s been making waves even before it hit the scene on January 19th. 

So, get this: the statement is kind of like a clapback to all the drama surrounding Palworld and the buzz about it copying Pokémon’s style.

So, on January 24th, the Pokémon Company went all bilingual on their Japanese website, posting a statement in both Japanese and English. They basically said they’re not cool with anyone messing with their Pokémon stuff without permission. No legal threats were thrown at Pocketpair, the creators of Palworld, but it’s pretty obvious that The Pokémon Company can’t just pretend all those comparisons between the two games don’t exist, especially since Palworld sold like hotcakes – over seven million copies in under a week!

Here’s the juicy part of their statement: “We’ve been bombarded with questions about some other company’s game that dropped in January 2024. Just so you know, we didn’t give the green light for using any Pokémon stuff in that game. We’re putting on our detective hats and getting ready to throw down if anyone’s messing with our Pokémon.
We’re sticking to our love for each and every Pokémon and their world, and we’re on a mission to unite the world through these little creatures in the future.”

Now, Pocketpair, the brains behind Palworld, insists they did everything by the book to avoid any copyright drama. But let’s be real, people are side-eyeing those monster designs in Palworld because they seem awfully similar to some Pokémon. Some folks are throwing around the idea that Palworld might skate by on Parody Law, you know, the one that protects things imitating other stuff in a funny way.

Even though The Pokémon Company has finally acknowledged Palworld, the online showdown between fans of both games has been wild since Palworld dropped on January 19th. Nintendo’s even thrown a DMCA at a mod trying to sneak Pokémon into the game, and fans are playing the detective game, comparing character models and yelling “plagiarism!” like it’s a showdown in the digital Wild West.