The company will take "appropriate action" if rights have been violated

The snorlax has woken up. The Pokémon Company broke its silence on Palworld, the blockbuster Pokémon-inspired survival game, on Thursday, saying it intended to investigate the game and "take appropriate action" if it determines its intellectual property rights have been violated.

Accusations of plagiarism have been leveled at Palworld since its Early Access launch on Friday, January 19, particularly regarding the design of its Pals, animals that players can collect, capture and battle. While the game contains many elements foreign to the Pokémon franchise – weapons, crafting, base building and other hallmarks of popular survival games like Valheim and Ark – many players comment on what they see as striking similarities between Pals and Pokémon. And it seems some of them have contacted the Pokemon Company about it.

"We have received many inquiries regarding another company's game that was released in January 2024," The Pokémon Company said in its statement. It didn't mention Palworld by name, but there's no doubt which game it's referring to.