Palworld, the action-adventure survival game that gained significant popularity following its early access launch on Steam and Xbox in January, will soon be available on mobile devices. Krafton, the developer behind PUBG: Battlegrounds, announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with Pocketpair, the game’s original developer, to create a mobile adaptation of Palworld. This announcement comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed against Pocketpair by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company last month, alleging patent infringement related to the game.
Mobile Adaptation of Palworld
Krafton’s partnership with Pocketpair aims to enhance the Palworld franchise by extending it to mobile platforms. Under this collaboration, Krafton’s PUBG Studios will take on the development of the mobile version, which is expected to faithfully translate the core elements of the original game for mobile users.
“We plan to faithfully reinterpret and implement the main fun elements of the original for the mobile environment,” Krafton stated in its announcement released on Wednesday (translated from Korean).
While no specific launch date has been provided for the mobile version of Palworld, it is anticipated to be available on iOS, Android, and iPadOS platforms.
Initially launched in early access on PC and Xbox consoles on January 19, Palworld quickly became a leading title on both platforms, breaking player count records on Steam. Within just over a month of its release, the game sold 15 million copies on Steam and attracted 10 million players on Xbox. It subsequently debuted on PS5 on September 25.
Nintendo’s Legal Action
Described as a survival game featuring Pokémon-inspired creatures, referred to as Pals, that can be captured and used for combat, exploration, and base building, Palworld has garnered immense attention on Steam despite accusations of plagiarism concerning Pokémon’s design. Critics have often labeled Palworld as “Pokémon with guns.”
In a legal move last month, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company launched a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair, seeking damages and an injunction on the game. Pocketpair has acknowledged the lawsuit but expressed a lack of awareness regarding specific claims of copyright infringement. “It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit,” the company stated.
