Will Palworld Get Shut Down by Pokemon IP Investigation?

After days of unending discourse on whether Palworld would be legal or not, The Pokemon Company has finally broken its silence and announced that will be looking into their newest competition. People are fearing for Palworld to be shut down, but can that really happen?

Can Palworld Shut Down Following Pokemon Lawsuit?

Palworld is not shutting down for now, but its future might be uncertain. Following the game’s release in January 2024, many have accused Pocketpair of plagiarism due to many designs being extremely similar to Pokemon, to the point where people have ripped both models and compared them directly, finding many similarities.

It didn’t take a week after the initial release until the Pokemon Company acknowledged the game’s existence in a new statement, affirming that they “intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon.” In other words, Pocketpair could be sued.

Another concern people have had with the game is about the potential usage of AI, given the company’s previous AI-positive statements. But as of now, the game seems to be in the clean despite having some suspiciously similar designs for their creatures, which is the main point of concern.

Both companies abide by the Japanese law system, so the country’s specific laws will be considered if any plagiarism is confirmed. If the claims turn out to be true, it could potentially affect Palworld.

The exact possible results are still unknown, although much speculation is going on. Some worst-case scenarios picture the servers being shut down and the game being removed from stores. Others might see that given the game’s tremendous success and the negative repercussions that could follow a sudden termination, a more lenient punishment could happen instead, such as redesigning certain Pals.

This is still very unlikely, though. The game was initially released with no legal complications whatsoever, so chances are that the Pokemon Company has always been aware of the game but doesn’t care about it or think of it as plagiarism enough. In that case, the announcement would work only as a way to say they’re aware of it.

Whether this was its true nature or not, there’s no way to be certain. It all comes down to what they decide in the upcoming trials, if there’s ever to be one about the issue. The game’s a huge hit regardless, so you might want to try Palworld if you haven’t already.