The survival crafting game and overnight sensation Palworld has now successfully established itself with over 19 million players globally, but it seems there are still some concerns about this new monster game in Pokémon’s homeland, Japan.
After The Pokémon Company released an official statement last week about this new early-access title, Japanese entertainment professionals have reportedly been asked by a talent agency to refrain from mentioning Palworld “out of consideration” for Pokémon and “future potential collaborations” with The Pokémon Company.
A talent agency source told Tokyo Sports the following (thanks, VGC):
“We have told our talent not to mention Palworld on social media or in public. This was done out of consideration for the Pokémon side as an agency. This decision was made in consideration of future potential collaborations.”
In The Pokémon Company’s statement, it did not directly name the title of the game, instead referring to Palworld as “another company’s game released in January 2024”. It also noted how it did not permit any use of the Pokemon IP in this particular game and would investigate any infringement of IP rights related to Pokémon:
“We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon.“
Just days before this, The Pokémon Company’s former Chief Legal Officer Don McGowan admitted he was “surprised” Palworld had actually got this far. Nintendo has also acknowledged Palworld’s existence but won’t comment on “individual cases”.
Although Palworld has been a sensitive subject for select parties, Microsoft’s gaming branch Xbox this week announced it would provide support to Palworld’s developers. It will be “providing support to enable dedicated servers”, offer assistance with game optimisation, and be helping to speed up the process to make Palworld updates more readily available to players.
Palworld has now also become the “biggest” third-party launch title ever on Xbox’s Game Pass subscription service, with more than 7 million Xbox players experiencing the title since its ‘Game Preview’ debut in January.
