Palworld is a Pokémon with a gun. As such, on its fourth day of release, it was accused by various internet users of being a straight rip-off of Nintendo's franchise.

But it is not only online commentators who have taken notice of Pal World and its tens of billions in sales. Don McGowan, former head of the Pokémon Company's legal team, is also not mincing words about the game. In a chat with Game Files, McGowan spoke candidly about Palworld, saying, "It looks like the kind of rip-off crap I used to see a thousand times a year when I was Pokémon's chief legal officer, all the time."

Indeed, McGowan, who headed Pikachu's legal advocacy unit from 2008 to 2020, seems to think it's shocking that Palworld didn't disappear some time ago. He says, "...

For Palworld's developer, Pocket Pair, the accusation is probably familiar by now. Nintendo itself has made no move to shut down the game, although it routinely issues cease-and-desist letters when it smells copyright infringement.

Takuro Mizobe, CEO of Pocket Pair, may have a point when he says that this game is far more comparable to ARK: Survival Evolved than Pokemon.

But in any case, McGowan is not convinced, and one has to imagine that the thinking of the former chief legal officer of The Pokémon Company is not that far removed from that of The Pokémon Company's current legal team. They must not be too happy with the sudden popularity of gun-toting Pokémon, even if they are not going all out to drag Poképairs into court.