Palworld's developers have finally broken the silence following accusations of the game using AI to plagiarize copyrighted Pokémon characters.
Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe took it to X (formerly Twitter) to clarify that all "all productions related to Palworld are supervised by multiple people," including Mizobe himself.
現在、弊社のアーティストに対して誹謗中傷が届いており、殺害予告に近いようなツイートも散見されます。
— Takuro Mizobe | Palworld (@urokuta_ja) January 22, 2024
パルワールドに関して様々な意見を頂いておりますが、パルワールドに関する制作物の監修は全て私を含めた複数人で行っており、制作物の責任は私にあります。…
The CEO also asked social media users to refrain from sending "slanderous comments" and death threats to the artists involved in the project.
Mizobe's statement comes as more users insist that the "Pokémon with guns" game used AI assets considering the company's previous titles.
One of Pocketpair's earlier games uses AI-generated images as part of its core gameplay. Mizobe earlier said that Palworld is closer to a parody of Pokémon and took inspirations from Ark and Rust.
Internet Still Casts Doubt on Palworld Characters
Despite Mizobe's statement, many users on X remain committed that the company indeed blatantly copied its competitor's iconic characters. Some users even compared Palworld's base designs to Pokémon's to compare similarities between the two
They have some funny hair quirks too. #Palworld pic.twitter.com/E8jhil9Ar3
— byo (@byofrog) January 23, 2024
As for the AI accusations, no one has yet noted that the designs have been flagged by AI detectors as machine-generated.
The game does not also have an AI label on its Steam page, a policy Valve has since required of developers after it allowed AI-generated games to be published on its platform.
Pokémon's creators Nintendo and GameFreak have yet to respond to the allegations.
AI Problem Continues to Sweep Over Gaming Communities
The threat of AI has become a sensitive topic in gaming communities as the technology continues to make its presence more prevalent in the industry.
Several prominent studios, like Square Enix, even declared that it will soon start AI for game development and marketing campaigns, a decision met with disappointment from its longtime fans.
Negative perception about the technology only worsened after SAG-AFTRA, the union that is also handling voice actors, licensed studios to voice actor's likeness for AI use.
The following events have resulted in some users and so-called internet sleuths mislabeling game artworks or voice lines as AI-generated.
