The significant launch exposure has inevitably sparked renewed discussions surrounding Palworld, particularly regarding the perceived similarities of its character designs to Pokémon.
After Palworld was released last Friday, certain users on X compiled observations pointing out resemblances between Palworld’s ‘Pals’ and Pokémon.
One user expressed, “The imitation is blatant, how much more has it copied?” While another user added, “I want to support Palworld, but I’m hesitant to endorse recycling existing Pokémon through a fusor and presenting them as ‘new’ intellectual property.”
The situation becomes more complex for some due to Pocketpair’s past involvement with generative AI tools. An artist named Zaytri highlighted on X that one of Pocketpair’s previous games was ‘AI: Art Imposter’, a game that directly incorporates an AI image generator as its central mechanic.
Moreover, the user pointed out several historical X posts by Pocketpair’s CEO Takuro Mizobe, where he seemed to commend the potential of AI image generators for content creation.
The utilization of generative AI technology remains a contentious issue in various creative sectors, including the gaming industry. Tools like Midjourney have faced criticism from those who view them as potentially displacing professional artists and utilizing their work without authorization for training purposes.
Recently, a legal case against Midjourney, Stability AI, and DeviantArt has identified numerous artists whose work allegedly was used without consent for training purposes.
In one of Mizobe’s X posts from 2022, he discussed his belief that generative AI tools could eventually evolve to avoid copyright concerns. Additionally, in a potentially more incriminating post from 2021, Mizobe demonstrated how AI could generate new Pokémon designs.
While there is no concrete evidence that the designs in Palworld were created with AI assistance, some speculate that this could explain the similarities in the game’s designs, particularly considering that Pocketpair was formed by a predominantly inexperienced team, including amateurs or individuals working in retail.
In a recent blog post, CEO Mizobe revealed that most of Palworld’s 100 character concepts were developed by a single graduate student who had faced multiple job rejections before joining the team.
Mizobe also mentioned in the post how Pocketpair’s prior game, Craftopia, relied heavily on pre-existing assets and that the company lacked animation staff when they commenced work on Palworld.
Despite the accusations of plagiarism regarding some character designs, Palworld has garnered positive reviews on Steam at the time of this report.
In Europe, there are efforts to regulate generative AI, requiring companies to disclose any copyrighted data used in training. Valve also recently updated its guidelines for games featuring AI-generated content on Steam, mandating clear disclosure of such usage by developers.
