Palworld Team Faces Death Threats After AI-Generated “Pokémon” Challenge Sparks Controversy
Palworld, which debuted on Steam and Xbox Game Pass on January 19th, has achieved great success for small developer Pocket Pair in just a few days since its release. According to Pocket Pair, Palworld has sold 5 million copies since its launch. Of note is that Pocket Pair’s founder and CEO, Takuro Mizukubo, is a former member of the cryptocurrency community and a co-founder of Coincheck, a major Japanese exchange. However, Mizukubo has recently faced death threats related to Palworld. What’s the story behind this?
“Palworld” (幻獸帕魯/パルワールド) is a multiplayer survival adventure game developed by Pocket Pair. The game combines elements of survival, building, and combat, allowing players to interact with mysterious creatures called “Pals” in an open world. These creatures play important roles in the game, and players can capture, raise, and even battle them.
“Palworld” draws inspiration from other popular survival and pet collection games, but it also incorporates unique elements such as deep interaction with the creatures and rich multiplayer features.
“Palworld” (幻獸帕魯/パルワールド) achieved tremendous success and became the center of controversy just three days into its early access phase. Criticisms mainly focused on the design of the “Pal” characters, which were deemed to be imitations of Pokémon, as well as suspicions of the use of generative AI in game development.
Takuro Mizukubo, the CEO of Pocket Pair, expressed interest in using AI tools to generate Pokémon-like characters on Twitter in the past. He also mentioned their development of a game called “AI Art Imposter” that utilizes image-generating AI in 2022. These statements became the starting point for the concerns.
Mizukubo also stated, “If it’s difficult to tell what the image is through this AI filter, does it solve the copyright issue?” However, these facts did not serve as definitive evidence of AI usage in the development of “Palworld” (幻獸帕魯/パルワールド).
Some netizens analyzed the 3D models of the characters and believed that it was impossible for the models to be so similar in precise proportions by accident. They considered it a warning to game developers not to take shortcuts by imitating others.
They also believed that this might prompt Nintendo, the parent company of Pokémon, to file a lawsuit.
However, “Palworld” (幻獸帕魯/パルワールド) faced criticism from many Pokémon fans, who found the imitation unacceptable.
Mizukubo stated that the artists of “Palworld” (幻獸帕魯) have faced a lot of slander and even tweets that seemed like death threats. They are open to various opinions about Palworld, but the production of “Palworld” (幻獸帕魯) involved many people, including himself, and he takes responsibility for the work. He also urged everyone to stop these behaviors.
Nintendo, the parent company of Pokémon, and a spokesperson for the Pokémon Company have currently declined to comment on the case.
The official statement from “Palworld” (幻獸帕魯) previously mentioned that the character design of “Palworld” was done by an artist they hired, who had been rejected by nearly 100 companies. This employee now draws most of the characters in Palworld.
Steam, the game distribution platform, recently introduced a new policy that requires developers to disclose their use of AI when submitting new games. However, the “Palworld” page does not have such a description.
The game industry seems to be much more interested in AI technology than blockchain. Not only Pocket Pair, but companies like Microsoft and Square Enix have also shown similar attitudes.
There is currently no direct evidence regarding whether the monster designs in “Palworld” (幻獸帕魯) were inspired by Pokémon or generated by AI to resemble Pokémon characters.
This incident shows that AI is disrupting various industries and will continue to challenge creators and existing regulatory systems. At the same time, AI brings unlimited possibilities.
