Palworld Controversy Sparks Discussions on AI and Plagiarism in Gaming Industry

Recently, the game Palworld has come under fire as players noticed striking similarities between its characters and those from the popular franchise Pokemon, owned by Nintendo. The game has been criticized for its use of the “gotta catch ’em all” mechanic, a trademark feature of the Pokemon series. Additionally, some have accused the developers of Palworld of plagiarizing elements from the games Ark and Rust. These allegations surfaced just as Palworld celebrated selling over 4 million copies. The game was released in early access for PC and Xbox on January 19th and achieved a milestone of 1 million concurrent players just a few days after its launch.

However, the controversy surrounding Palworld is not the only accusation directed at Pocketpair, the studio behind the game. The studio previously released a game called AI: Art Imposter, which was deemed a clone of Gartic Phone, where players use AI to generate drawings, as stated on the Steam platform. Online users also discovered old posts by Pocketpair’s CEO, Takuro Mizobe, discussing the use of artificial intelligence to avoid potential lawsuits from Nintendo. It was also revealed that Mizobe has an interest in NFTs and even established a cryptocurrency company before founding Pocketpair.

The use of generative artificial intelligence has become a hot topic in the gaming community in recent months, as it raises concerns about copyright infringement and loss of control. Some studios, like Square Enix, have announced their intention to further utilize AI in the production and marketing of their games. Even VALVe, despite initial opposition, has allowed games with AI-generated content on the Steam platform. Opposition to AI in games continues to grow, especially after reports of layoffs in esteemed game studios last year.

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The source of the article is from the blog aovotice.cz