During the height of Palworld’s popularity, gamers threw a lot of accusations in the direction of developer Pocket Pair, claiming plagiarism of Pokemon’s designs that have been assessed by legal experts and even roused The Pokemon Company to say it was intending to investigate and “take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights.”
All of that was this past January, and we’re obviously near the end of June, so if you were assuming that nothing came from that statement, you would be right: Pocket Pair CEO and Palworld creator Takuro Mizobe has told GameFile that he has heard “nothing at all” from either Nintendo or The Pokemon Company.
Mizobe further credits Nintendo for his work ethic in terms of not trying to design something completely brand-new, as he was part of a one-year Nintendo Game Seminar in which he created a Missile Command-like game called The Tentai Show that adds on unique mechanics that utilize the Nintendo DS’s dual screens. “I always think: To make new things is very hard,” he says when asked about what he learned from the program. “In game development, of course, sometimes we have to do it, but, as much as possible, I try to avoid creating new things.”
Brand-new will be coming to Palworld on Thursday, June 27th, when the Sakurajima update arrives with new Pals, weapons, the titular new island, and more. A trailer highlighting all of that awaits below.
