One of the major announcements during Sony’s State of Play on September 24 was the surprise launch of Palworld for PlayStation 5.
The action-adventure/survival hybrid from Pocketpair has been in early access on Steam since January. In Palworld, players can capture Pals and collaborate with them to engage in battles, explore dungeons, construct builds, and craft items.
In a translated X/Twitter post on September 25, the developers confirmed that the launch of Palworld on PlayStation 5 globally missed Japan, indicating that a release date “has not yet been decided.”
“We apologize to our fans in Japan who were excited for it, and we assure you that our entire team is striving to deliver it to PS5 users as quickly as possible,” the statement elaborated, adding “we appreciate your patience as we work towards this.”
<About the PS5 version of “Palworld”> As announced in the official PlayStation “State of Play”, the PS5 version of “Palworld” was released today in 68 countries and regions around the world. … https://t.co/BNzS18XBYK
— Palworld/Palworld Official (@Palworld_JP) September 24, 2024
The announcement did not clarify the delay in Japan; however, it is speculated that it may be due to legal issues faced by Pocketpair. On September 19, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company confirmed that they had jointly initiated legal action against the creator of Palworld, alleging patent infringement.
Although Palworld features gameplay that is fundamentally distinct from the Pokemon franchise, it has been frequently likened to it, particularly due to some design similarities between Pals and Pokemon.
This lawsuit specifically concerns patent infringement, rather than copyright issues, suggesting that, for the time being, Nintendo and TPC are not arguing that Pals are too similar to Pocket Monsters.
In a related note, on September 21, a former designer of Palworld claimed that during the development of the game, they were instructed to “design a creature that could rank in the top 100 Pokémon in terms of popularity” and stated that their designs were altered without their consent.
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