Remember The Pokemon Company saying it was going to investigate Palworld? It seems nothing's come of that yet
PocketPair's CEO says everything's been quiet behind the scenes.
While there were plenty of armchair lawyers and some actual lawyers who were convinced that Palworld would end up in hot water with Pokemon and Nintendo due to percieved similarities between its pals and, well, Pokemon, PocketPair's CEO has suggested that the studio is yet to recieve any formal indication of planned legal action from those parties.
If you're out of the loop, back when Palworld had its initial surge in popularity in January, it attracted allegations that the models used for some of its creatures were close to being rip-offs of established Pokemon. Things even got as far as The Pokemon Company issuing a statement on the matter, asserting that it would "investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokemon".
Well, according to PocketPair CEO Takuro Mizobe in an interview with Game File, nothing concrete in terms of legal communications or outreaches regarding Palworld potentially infriging on any Pokemon IP has been forthcoming from Nintendo or The Pokemon Company so far.
Mizobe says the developer has heard "nothing at all", adding: "Nintendo and the Pokémon Company didn't say anything to us." So, Palworld looks to be in the clear, at least for now, especially when you consider that - at least when it comes to the likes of emulators and mods - Nintendo is known for being pretty decisive about taking action if it feels it has grounds to.
Elsewhere in the interview, Mizobe also touched on the idea of bringing Palworld to platforms beyond Xbox and PC in the future, saying that it's something the studio is "still discussing", but adding that the Nintendo Switch might be a no-go "for technical reasons", with the game's minimum requirements on PC being loftier than the Switch's specs.
If you're looking for a reason to jump back into Palworld, its big Sakurajima Update drops later this week, on June 27.