‘Pokémon with guns’ Palworld sells 5 million copies in 3 days amid plagiarism accusations

Palworld, a monster-catching, training and survival game sometimes referred to as “Pokémon with guns” or “Pokégun,” has been a runaway success so far, selling 5 million copies in just three days and exceeding 1.5 million concurrent players on Steam at one point (this number doesn’t even include Xbox Game Pass players).

Any way you look at it, this is an impressive feat for the small Japanese independent game studio Pocketpair, and it will be interesting to see if the developer can keep this momentum going.

#Palworld has sold over 5 million copies in only 3 days!

Thank you soooo much!
In addition, thank you for all the illustrations on #PalworldArt and videos on #PalClips from all over the world!

Please leave a review if you've been enjoying your time in Palworld!#Pocketpair pic.twitter.com/wyq5HlNDHZ

— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) January 22, 2024

Despite its shortcomings, including incredibly stupid AI, lacklustre graphics and a barrage of game-breaking glitches in the Xbox version, Palworld’s core Pal-catching, training and base management mechanics are surprisingly solid.

This is why I found myself spending most of the past weekend playing the co-operatively with my partner despite usually avoiding “early-access” titles. The fact that Palworld is a very meme-worthy, shockingly dark game that doesn’t take itself too seriously has also contributed a lot to its success. Who could resist a cute frog-looking Pal carrying an AK-47, a lizard wearing a hooded sweatshirt named Leezpunk or the ability to butcher your Pals for items?

Palworld features several obvious similarities to Nintendo, The Pokémon Company and Game Freak’s long-running Pokémon series, from the design of its cutesy ‘Pals’ to the Palballs you use to capture them, and even the characters you encounter in its world, there’s a decidedly “knock-off” feel to aspects of the title. The game also borrows from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in terms of its climbing mechanic, music and to some extent, its overall vibe. There are even aspects of the Grand Theft Auto series and Minecraft in Palworld, too.

My Leezpunk spent 20 minutes staring off at the horizon from this rock. Hell ya. pic.twitter.com/6Lsmqj7BsV

— Patrick O'Rourke (@Patrick_ORourke) January 22, 2024

The resulting survival game is a weird combination of key features from notable series that somehow still works, while also improving on them in some ways, especially when it comes to the Pokémon franchise. It’s almost like a music remix in video game form.

For many, including myself, Palworld is the Pokémon game they wish Game Freak released years ago.

Accusations ranging from AI being used to create the game’s Pals to straight-up ripping off certain Pokemon and the CEO of Pocketpair, Takuro Mizobe’s, shady dealings in the crypto/NFT space have floated around social media for the past several days. Naturally, because this is the video game industry, these claims have resulted in death threats being aimed at Palworld‘s design team, forcing Pocketpair’s CEO to address the situation in an interview with Automaton.

“We make our games very seriously, and we have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies,” said Mizobe. He goes on to say that the company cleared “legal reviews” and that no action has been taken against Pocketpair.

Would it suck if Palworld turns out to be a big AI-powered plagiarized video game, especially since it features several genuinely inventive core concepts? Definitely, but the majority of claims currently surrounding the game are currently the result of X/Reddit sleuths (though, the evidence is quickly piling up).

That said, it’s important to have a clear grasp regarding if these claims hold any truth to them before bringing out the pitchforks, and sending death threats to developers is never okay, regardless of how passionate you are about the Pokémon series.

Header image credit: Pocketpair

Source: @Palworld_EN, Automaton