The YouTuber and famous modder Toasted Shoes has decided to make a “unique” comeback into the realm of Palworld through a “legally distinct” mod.
For those unaware, Toasted Shoes previously introduced a “Pokemon-crossover” mod hours after Palworld was launched, bringing iconic characters such as Ash into the game. However, Nintendo decided to show no mercy here, as the firm issued a DMCA notice to the teaser trailer of the upcoming mod, which ultimately halted its progress. However, Toasted Shoes and the involved team have announced a new mod framed in a way that cannot be legally challenged (according to them).
Toasted Shoes is now preparing a mod that resembles the characters present in the Pokemon lore, but they aren’t exactly the same. He says the new mod will feature “some amazing pocket-sized creatures, such as Yellow Rat” and ensures it isn’t “based on any intellectual property owned by a certain corporation from Japan.” Now, this approach is sort of a “legal workaround,” and instead of directly fetching characters from the Pokédex, the modder will introduce characters that show resemblance in a way that it isn’t a copy.
The ‘Pokémon-mod” for Palworld has generally received massive interest from the community, which is understandable given the monster collection elements featured in the base game. However, it remains to be seen whether Toasted Shoes’ efforts will remain free of Nintendo’s legal challenges.
In any case, Pocketpair’s game continues to break records. According to the development team, the game has surpassed 19 million players between Steam’s 12 million and Xbox’s 7 million. The latter figure also includes Game Pass users who checked out Palworld.
These figures make the open world survival game by far the largest third-party launch on Game Pass, where Palworld is also leading the charts. Microsoft had been searching for an exclusive Asian game to use against Sony, and Palworld is the closest thing they’ve managed, although it’s worth reminding the developers haven’t denied the possibility of developing a PlayStation 5 version of their title.
