Palworld Accused Of Ripping-Off Pokémon Assets, CEO Dismisses Claims As ‘Slanderous’

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There’s absolutely no doubt that Palworld took a page from Pokémon, but its artists are now being accused of ripping-off assets from the popular pocket monster franchise. Due to the critter-taming MMO’s meteoric rise to popularity, it’s now come under intense scrutiny from the internet community who claim that Pocket Pair simply copied 3D models from Pokémon games and edited them for their own use.

One X by the name of byofrog has been spearheading the witch hunt in a series of posts that point out the similarities between the 3D meshes from Pokémon games and Palworld. As an example, he offered side-by-side comparisons of similar-looking creatures, including Pokémon’s Cinderace and one of Palworld’s grass-type Pals.

“The Palworld meshes are not node-for-node the same, but they're really close,” wrote byofrog.

Not everyone agrees with byofrog though. “It is my opinion, as someone with a background in 3D modeling, that not only is the palworld topography different, it is superior,” replied one X .

“Wow, it’s almost like the Palworld devs might have done something smart and snatched up all the really talented Pokémon fan-modelers that The Pokémon Company would and gave them an outlet for their talent,” another chimed in.

Former Blizzard designer Eric Covington also weighed-in on the matter on X, saying: “To ‘accidentally’ create a complex model mesh with so near-exact proportions is practically impossible. To repeat that improbability throughout your roster… doesn’t the sniff test.”

Another video game character artist who preferred to remain anonymous told VGC that the models used in byofrog’s comparisons were completely different, but that it’s possible that Pocket Pair’s 3D artists might have ‘built over’ Pokémon models. The anonymous artist added that, if that was the case, they would never claim them as “originals.”

However, Atty. Brandon Huffman of Odin Law and Media, a law firm that’s well-versed in video game litigation, is doubtful that Nintendo will make a fuss over Palworld’s alleged “borrowing” of Pokémon assets.

Pocket Pair CEO Takuro Mizobe dismissed the allegations and called the comments “slanderous.” He also told Automaton that they have “no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property rights of other companies.” He also reported that their artists have received death threats over the issue.

In a recent blog post, Mizobe itted to being way over his head when his team started work on Palworld’s character models and animations. They had 100 monsters to make and he was entirely clueless about how to rig them for animation. He also said that Pocket Pair’s file management system was a “mess” until they hired a veteran animator who was quick to point out their mistakes and quickly set up a “mass production system” for the 3D models.

“All productions related to Palworld are supervised by multiple people, including myself, and I am responsible for the production,” added Mizobe.

It’s worth noting that had Palworld not achieved ludicrous success, it might not have been put under the microscope by the internet community. In any case, there’s no denying that it’s currently one of the most popular games in the world. It’s now the second most-played game in Steam history with an all-time peak concurrency of just over 1.86 million players as of this writing. It still has a long way to go before it dethrones PUBG: Battlegrounds as the most played game on Steam of all time, but it looks like its well on its way to doing so.