When Palworld was first announced back in 2021, the internet immediately clocked it as 'Pokémon with guns,' and it was the least surprising thing for Nintendo to initiate a lawsuit against the game's developer, PocketPair, even if it meant trying some "Hail Mary" tactics by going after patents for game mechanics, rather than attempting to catch PocketPair on copyright infringement with the design of the Pals coming very close to the design of popular Pokémon.
But even amidst the lawsuit, Palworld has been a smash success - it may never arrive on a Nintendo console, but it doesn't have to when it's already a hugely popular game on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation. There's even a farming spin-off game already in the works, and Palworld is due to launch out of early access later this year.
Now, another game is trying to do what Palworld has done, which is launch a successful game off the back of looking almost exactly like Pokémon without being Pokémon, while practically goading Nintendo into launching a lawsuit against it. But this game may have a more difficult time.
Pickmon (the name doesn't do it any favours) is perhaps best described by X (formerly Twitter) user Noriofan, who called it a "bootleg of a bootleg" when they replied to Pickmon's debut trailer on X.
Developer PocketGame describes Pickmon as "a brand new multiplayer monster-collecting game with open-world survival elements," with its trailer showing clips of a player character and their Pikachu-lookalike pal adventuring with them as they build up a base with other 'Pickmon' (the name for the creatures featured in the trailer), flying across the vast land with a glider, and capturing presumably wild Pickmon with magic cards as Pickmon's brand of Poké balls.
Which, interestingly enough, suggests that PocketGame has been paying attention to Nintendo's lawsuit against PocketPair, opting not to go with an orb-shaped object and ensuring that players use gliders and not flying Pickmon to get around to avoid some of the patent issues that have already forced PocketPair to make changes to Palworld.
It'll be interesting to see if Pickmon is able to get away with its character and game design inspirations. We know that Nintendo is not afraid to sue whoever it wants to, and that we can probably expect a suit to be launched when Nintendo feels it is the right time.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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