PUBG Maker Krafton brings Palworld to mobile platforms
Palworld, the action-adventure survival title that became a phenomenon when it launched in early access on Steam and Xbox in January, is coming to mobile platforms. Krafton has signed an agreement with Palworld developer Pocketpair to create a mobile version of the game, the company announced Wednesday. The development comes after Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair last month over alleged cases of patent infringement in Palworld.
Palworld on mobile
PUBG: Battlegrounds creator Krafton has announced that it has partnered with Pocketpair to extend Palworld’s intellectual property to mobile platforms. As part of the deal, Krafton’s PUBG Studios will develop a mobile version of the controversial game.
“It plans to faithfully reinterpret and implement the key fun elements of the original for the mobile environment,” Krafton said in his announcement Wednesday (translated from Korean).
The company hasn’t announced a launch timeline for the mobile version of Palworld yet, but you can expect the game to release on iOS, Android, and iPadOS platforms.
Palworld initially launched in early access on PC and Xbox consoles on January 19 and became a huge hit on both platforms, breaking Steam’s player count. In just over a month since launch, the game had sold 15 million copies on Steam and attracted 10 million players on Xbox. Palworld was released for PS5 on September 25.
Nintendo lawsuit
The survival title, which features Pokémon-style creatures, or Pals, that can be captured and tamed for battle, traversal and base-building in the game’s open world, became one of the most played games on Steam, despite a wave of plagiarism claims that accused the game of copying Pokémon designs. The comparisons led to Palworld being called “Pokémon with guns.”
Last month, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair, seeking damages and a ban on the game. The creator of Palworld has acknowledged the lawsuit, but says it is not aware of any specific cases of alleged copyright infringement. “It’s really a shame that because of this lawsuit we will have to spend a lot of time on matters that have nothing to do with game development,” the Japanese company said.
