The release of multi-player survival game Palworld has been met with accusations that it plagiarised Pokemon for its creature designs.

Created by Japanese developer Pocket Pair, Palworld combines the open-world survival genre with Pokemon-inspired 'Pals' creatures, some of which are nearly identical to those in Pokemon, and others look like two Pokemon fused together. raising concerns about plagiarism.

Pocket Pair CEO responded that the character concepts were mostly designed by a single graduate student hired in 2021 following a hiring spree for new illustrators. 

Users and commentators pointed out that Pocket Pair has a history of using generative AI tools, and that its CEO had talked publicly about how he believed generative AI tools could one day be sophisticated enough to avoid copyright issues.