The director of Pocketpair’s open world survival crafting game Palworld has defended the game’s artists and asked people to stop sending them abuse and death threats.
Palworld launched in early access on PC and Xbox Series|S on Friday, January 19 and since sold more than five million copies. According to SteamDBearlier today (January 22), it managed to reach a record of over 1.5 million concurrent players on PC alone.
However, its success has also been mired in controversy. From its unveiling, the game became unofficially known on the internet as ‘Pokemon with guns’, as the creatures (Pals) in the world can be both shot and equipped with guns and weapons. They can also be forced to work and even eaten. In addition, many internet users have also pointed out similarities between some Pal designs and existing Pokémon.
In a rack Posted today on Twitter/X, director Takuro Mizobe wrote (translated by Ny Breaking Gaming contributor Alicia Haddick): “We are currently receiving a large number of tweets, including death threats and abuse from artists in our company. While we have heard many comments about that PalworldAll aspects of production are supervised by different people within the company and I am responsible for the overall production.
“It would be appreciated if you would stop sending insults to the artists involved in the production of Palworld.”
Read moreする…January 22, 2024
Mizobe is not the only person involved Palworld who has referred to Pocketpair employees who were threatened during the game. Yesterday (January 21), Palworld community manager ‘Bucky’ said they were “frantically” going through all the emails and DMs they’ve received since the game’s launch, but added: “However, please excuse me if I skip over the death threats, threats against the company, and wildly outlandish claims.”
Looking for great new games to play? Be sure to check out our list of the best survival gamesjust like the best open world games on pc.