Ex-Palworld designer alleges Pocketpair changed their designs to be more like Pokemon

As a long-time fan and follower of the gaming industry, I’ve seen my fair share of controversies, but this one between Pocketpair and the Pokemon franchise is particularly intriguing. The allegations made by an ex-Pocketpair worker about their designs being changed without permission to resemble Pokemon are concerning, to say the least.


A former employee alleged that changes were made to their character designs, making them more similar to Pokémon, without obtaining their consent.

Although the translation from Japanese given by Lewtwo is somewhat informal, it indicates that according to the original comments, the CEO of Pocketpair, Takuro Mizobe, supposedly directed the artists to create a monster or creature that would rank among the most popular top 100 Pokemon.

Emphasizing their originality, the designer persisted in claiming that Pocketpair had transformed the “creature I conceived” into a design resembling a chimera, without giving credit where it was due.

For a considerable period due to their contractual obligations, the person had been restrained from expressing themselves. However, they persisted in criticizing Pocketpair for seemingly disregarding and infringing upon the emotions of designers who had diligently worked to prevent plagiarism.

Ex-Palworld designer alleges Pocketpair changed their designs to be more like Pokemon

On September 19th, it was made official that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company took legal action against Pocketpair, alleging that they have violated patents.

It’s yet undetermined which patent the two parties are alleging Palworld studio violated, but it’s important to clarify that specific Pokemon character designs fall under copyright law, not patent. Therefore, the legal dispute between TPC and Nintendo is unlikely to be based on claims that Pocketpair copied the designs of their Pokemon characters.

Regardless, news of the lawsuit served as a catalyst prompting the former Pocketpair employee to share their story, stating that they “support a certain large company.”

On January 19, Palworld was launched in an early access format. Despite having a distinctly different gameplay compared to Pokémon, it has faced criticism for its Pal designs being too closely resembling that of the Pokémon franchise due to numerous similarity accusations.

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2024-09-21 13:48