Nintendo Is Ignoring Palworld Devs and ‘going after’ the Modder Putting Pokemon Into the Latest Steam Craze

Palworld has taken the world by storm, and the reception for the game may have taken many by surprise. Often described as Pokémon with guns, the game has been recognized as the biggest launch in Steam history, beating games like Hogwarts Legacy and Elden Ring. Which, when you look at the numbers, is no small feat.

While Nintendo may be feeling slightly aggrieved by the similarities between the two games, it appears that it is not quite ready to take up arms against the developers of Palworld. No, instead, the giant of the industry has decided to focus on going after the little guy, and despite the game being regarded as a cheap rip-off of Pokémon, the legal team was recently quick to take action against a modder.

The Palworld Mod Was Brought Crashing Down in Quick Succession

The modder, who goes by the name ToastedShoes on social media site X, is an Australian YouTuber who boasts an impressive 700k subscribers and over 1.7 million followers on TikTok. He posted yesterday (January 22) that a Pokemon Mod had been added to Palworld, with the full video due to feature today (January 23).

The mod saw the main character replaced with Ash Ketchum and other well-known Pokémon characters, as well as some accompanying Palworld characters. What happened next was perhaps less than surprising, and the legal team at Nintendo moved in with swift and effective efficiency, citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

So within 24 hours of ToastedShoes tweet going live on X, his mod was, to put it bluntly, toast. He posted a follow-up, claiming that Nintendo had come for him and that fans should hold him in their thoughts and prayers. No doubt he would have been aware of the heat he would get from this specific mod, but perhaps he didn’t factor in the copyright lawyers being so quick off the mark.

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The follow-up post by the modder on X saw some hilarious reactions from fans. While many were unsurprised by the move from Nintendo, other fans couldn’t believe the speed at which it happened. Regardless of this, there were many tongue-in-cheek comments about how the company does not allow them to have anything good.

Well damn. We all knew they would.. But this was fast

— Shyaren 🌹🩸 Cringe Queen 👑 (@Shyaren_VT) January 23, 2024

Despite ToastedShoes feeling the wrath of the legal team at Nintendo, he still plans on going ahead and publishing his video to showcase his Palworld mod, but will do so within the copyright laws. With the end goal of finishing the mod pack and releasing it for free, ToastedShoes confirmed that he is waiting to see what happens before any more work is done.

rest in peace

I can see why though, I saw your video on instagram re-posted by people like 5+ times yesterday 😭😭

they all had 10's to 100's of thousands of views

— Yana : Dokimon + MonTamer Maker Dev (@yanako_rpgs) January 23, 2024

The Japanese developers behind the Steam hit, Pocketpair, have dismissed the similarities between their game and the Nintendo title. Insisting that their title is more in line with survival crafting games such as Valheim and Ark: Survival Evolved, this hasn’t stopped the comparisons and the accusations of being a cheap Pokémon knock-off.

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CEO of Pocketpair, Takuro Mizobe, has confirmed that the game has cleared all legal reviews, and despite the debate raging on about whether Nintendo would take action, Mizobe insists that there is no intention from them in terms of copyright infringement.

However, with the success that the game has seen, it may just have rubbed a few people up the wrong way.

There’s no skirting about the comparisons with Pokémon, and it appears that the Nintendo lawyers are sharpening their knives, ready to jump on any instance of copyright infringement. While modding a game can be seen by the majority as harmless fun, some must be feeling threatened by the new kid on the block, and that’s clear from the latest developments.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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