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SMEJ, Aniplex, Palworld Game Developer Establish Palworld Entertainment

Sony Music Entertainment Japan Inc. announced on Wednesday that it and its subsidiary Aniplex, along with Palworld game developer Pocketpair, have established a new joint venture named Palworld Entertainment. The venture aims to expand and develop "new business" for the Palworld game, as well as develop the intellectual property's reach, licensing, and merchandising outside of the game.

Palworld Entertainment's first merchandise for the game will be available at Pocketpair's booth at the bilibili World 2024 event in Shanghai on Friday, July 12.

Pocketpair debuted its Palworld multiplayer survival game on January 19 as a Steam Early Access game. The game reached 25 million users within a month of its release.

Players and critics initially noted the similarity of the designs of many of the game's "Pal" creatures to the Pokémon franchise's titular Pokémon. The Pokémon Company released a statement shortly after Palworld's release that it is investigating a possible copyright infringement by an unnamed game company. The Pokémon Company has not issued a follow-up statement or actions since then.

Sources: Sony Music Entertainment Japan, Pocketpair via Gematsu