News

Palworld Game Does Not Launch for PS5 in Japan Today

The official Japanese X (formerly Twitter) account for Pocketpair's Palworld game confirmed on Wednesday that the game's PlayStation 5 version is not launching in Japan on the same day. The PlayStation 5 launch date in Japan is still to be determined, despite the game launching on the console on the same day in 68 countries and territories. Pocketpair is itself a Japan-based company.

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.

Sony Music Entertainment Japan Inc. announced in July that it and its subsidiary Aniplex, along with Pocketpair, have established a new joint venture named Palworld Entertainment.

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair at the Tokyo District Court on September 18. The suit claims that the game infringes on Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's patent rights, and seeks an injunction against infringement as well as compensation for damages. Pocketpair responded by stating it is "unaware of the specific patents [it is] accused of infringing upon, and [it has] not been notified of such details." The company stated it will begin legal proceedings and investigations into the claims.

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 was investigating a possible copyright infringement by an unnamed game company.

Source: Palworld Japanese X/Twitter account via Hachima Kikō