Palworld, the sensational dubbed of ‘Pokemon with guns’ has garnered record-breaking success since its Early Access release on 19 January, but not all things seemed to turn well for Pocketpair.

The CEO of Palworld and the game director, Takuro Mizobe, has recently shared a statement on Twitter addressing the growing controversy surrounding the development team’s receipt of death threats and abusive messages on social media. These threats and harassment have been directed towards the team in response to recent accusations of plagiarism.

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— Takuro Mizobe | Craftopia, Palworld (@urokuta_ja) January 22, 2024

“Currently, we are receiving slanderous comments against our artists, and we are seeing tweets that appear to be death threats.

I have received a variety of opinions regarding Palworld, but all productions related to Palworld are supervised by multiple people, including myself, and I am responsible for the production.

I would appreciate it if you would refrain from slandering the artists involved in Palworld.”

A current controversy surrounding Palworld with accusations of utilizing generative AI to generate assets within the game, including the numerous monsters that bear striking similarities to the iconic creatures in the Pokemon franchise. These allegations have raised questions regarding the authenticity of the creations and sparked a debate regarding the ethical implications of using generative AI in this manner.

The CEO, Mizobe, discussed the potential legal issues surrounding the release of Palworld during an interview with Automaton. Mizobe emphasized that the game had successfully cleared legal reviews without encountering any issues or actions taken against it by other companies.

He expressed that the company takes the creation of its games very seriously and harbours no intention to engage in any infringement of the intellectual property of other companies. Mizobe also commented that, in his personal opinion, Palworld bears no resemblance to Pokémon and more closely resembles other IPs.

Palworld is now available in Early Access on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Game Pass, and PC via Steam.