Palworld fans are worried Nintendo is going to come after the game, following a DMCA takedown of fan-made merchandise sporting a Palworld design.
So far the popularity of Palworld hasn’t dwindled. It’s still one of the most successful games on Steam and now it’s partnering with Xbox to bring quality of life improvements and new features to the Xbox Series X/S version of the game.
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Of course it hasn’t been smooth sailing. The claim that Palworld is simply a rip-off of Pokemon is an accusation that continues to hang over the game’s head, no matter how much fans defend it. Due to this similarity there’s growing concerns Nintendo will eventually strike the game down, as the president of the company has promised action will be taken.
Those concerns are growing once again as a piece of fan-made merch sporting one of the Pal designs has reportedly been hit with a DMCA from Nintendo for breaching copyright.
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The design was for a tshirt that featured the Pal Sparkit, but it was reported through a Reddit community post that it’s since been taken down. The user who posted the news said: “Huh, didn't realize ‘The Big N’ (Nintendo) was the legal rights holder to Sparkit…”
Fans were understandably upset and angry with the company, with one user calling it “ridiculous” as Sparkit looks nothing like any of the Pokemon.
Others were also understandably concerned about the future of Palworld content, especially if Nintendo does somehow have the power to strike down designs it doesn’t like or agree with.
For the most part it’s safe to say the game itself is safe for now, as while there are a few similarities with the Pokemon brand, Palworld includes plenty of features to make it stand out on its own, with even more content on the way this year.