Pickmon accused of stealing Pokemon fan art by multiple artists

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Artists who create Pokemon fan art are accusing a new game called Pickmon of copying their original designs.

The game, created by PocketGame and published by Networkgo, was already facing criticism for its characters, which many reviewers said closely resembled Pikachu, Charizard, and Link from Breath of the Wild. However, the issues weren’t limited to just Nintendo’s intellectual property.

Pokemon fan artists say Pickmon stole their designs

El.psy.fake claimed that Pickmon didn’t just copy designs from Nintendo, but also from independent artists, specifically referencing a Mega Meganium evolution they created. The artist posted on Instagram, stating that Pickmon hadn’t even attempted to disguise the copied design.

Artist @pokejayjay also reported a theft on X, stating that a fan design they created for Mega Ceruledge had been stolen. Neither artist whose work was taken received any credit or communication from the person who took it.

Side-by-side comparison of a Pickmon promotional image on the left, featuring a green serpentine creature with pink floral wings, alongside el.psy.fake’s fan-made Mega Meganium design on the right
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Things went from bad to worse when people started pointing out that some of the monsters in Pickmon looked really familiar. It turned out a bunch of them seemed to be Palworld creatures that had just been slightly changed – like, someone took Anubis and Quivern, tweaked the colors, and called it a new monster. It just looked like asset flips, and the community wasn’t happy about it.

The game’s creator, PocketGame, seems intentionally similar to Palworld’s developer, Pocketpair. Critics also point out that instead of using balls to catch creatures, the game uses cards, which appears to be a way to avoid the monster-catching patent Nintendo is currently disputing in its lawsuit against Palworld.

Things were really heating up with that game’s demo on Steam. More and more artists started speaking out about issues with it, and honestly, a lot of us figured Nintendo’s lawyers would be getting involved any minute now. The calls to pull the demo were getting super loud.

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2026-03-10 01:18