In 2024, Palworld has become the buzz of the gaming community. Within a week of its release, the game has achieved remarkable success, selling 2 million units and securing the position of Steam’s third-largest release. Concurrently, it has reached a peak of nearly 1.6 million players.
Despite its triumph, the game has ignited allegations of plagiarism and the incorporation of AI-generated content. Senior artist at Naughty Dog, Del Walker has alleged that Palworld was crafted in a dubious manner.
Palworld is described on Steam as an action game: “Fight, farm, build and work alongside mysterious creatures called “Pals” in this completely new multiplayer, open world survival and crafting game!” Palworld has been labelled as ‘Pokemon with guns.’ However, the recent substantial success has elicited allegations of cheating. The Naughty Dog senior artist Del Walker expressed suspicions, stating, “They’re cheating somehow, I just can’t pinpoint how.” Nina Klos from Sumo Digital supported Walker’s sentiments, adding to the ongoing debate within the gaming community.
Comparisons to Pokemon are inevitable, considering Palworld’s monster-hunting theme and appealing designs for diverse audiences. Yet, Palworld appears to transcend mere inspiration, sparking controversy to the extent that the artists involved in the game are facing death threats. The CEO of Pocketpair acknowledged the abusive comments but did not outright deny the allegations of cheating, maintaining that all Palworld materials were created by his team.
Some users on social media highlighted apparent similarities in models between Palworld and Pokemon, raising questions about potential plagiarism in game design. Adding to the debate is Pocketpair’s history of relying on AI-generated content. However, the resolution of these concerns lies in the hands of Nintendo and Game Freak.
Other users on social media pointed out the timing of the allegations coincides with the success of Palworld and the failure of The Last of Us 2 Remastered. Twitter user Theo – t3.gg tweeted: “This is kinda funny when you realize The Last of Us 2 Remastered dropped on Friday, got zero press, and Palworld is the ONLY convo at Naughty Dog internally rn”
Twitter user Daddy Warpig tweeted: “>PalWorld sells 6 million copies >NaughtyDog dev says they must be cheating some how. They are. It’s called ‘making entertaining games people love to play’. I can see where your studio would be unfamiliar with the idea.”
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Despite the controversies, Palworld stands out as the biggest success of 2024 on Steam. The game distinguishes itself from Pokemon by incorporating unique features such as weapons and MMO elements, forming a winning formula.
With 6 million units sold to date on Steam and an all-time concurrent player count surpassing 1.7 million, Palworld ‘s success continues to grow. Many hope this achievement serves as a wake-up call for Game Freak, especially in light of recent criticisms regarding the quality of their Pokemon games.
What do you think of Palworld destroying The Last Of Us and selling so well on Steam? leave a comment and let us know.
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Wow! Seeing Palword earn so much success on Steam. It absolutely blew my mind. Palworld is almost has big compared to the obscured web series called skibidi toilet. Skibidi toilet is way better than watching any Star Wars Disney + shows.
I absolutely grown obsessed with both the web series and the game. I love it.
I am hooked on palworld rn