{"id":66432,"date":"2026-05-11T15:36:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T06:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=66432"},"modified":"2026-05-11T15:36:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T06:36:56","slug":"pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9mon and Palworld clone Pickmos returns to Steam with \u201cupdated\u201d assets after plagiarism controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Developer PocketGame and publisher Networkgo <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/4358270\/Pickmos\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/4358270\/Pickmos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recently restored the Steam store page<\/a> for their upcoming creature collector RPG <strong>Pickmos <\/strong>(source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespark.jp\/article\/2026\/05\/11\/166232.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Game*Spark<\/a>). The store page was temporarily removed by Networkgo in mid-April due to copyright concerns. Though there hasn\u2019t been any official announcement regarding the comeback, it seems like PocketGame has received the \u201cfinal approval\u201d from the publishers to bring the game back to the platform with revised artwork and gameplay footage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"432\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260511-664320001.jpg\" alt=\"Pickmos\" class=\"wp-image-66436\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260511-664320001.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260511-664320001-380x214.jpg 380w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Pickmos was announced back in February 2026 under the title Pickmon, and it instantly gained attention for its strong resemblance to Pok\u00e9mon and Palworld, both visually and gameplay-wise. However, due to many similarities, including some character designs that looked dangerously close to ones from the aforementioned franchises, the game ended up facing strong backlash from fans. PocketGame was also accused of stealing multiple fan-made Pok\u00e9mon designs for their project, as well as copying models from other popular franchises like Overwatch and The Legend of Zelda series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Considering the high-profile ongoing lawsuit over patent infringement between Nintendo and Pocketpair, many were expecting that the project would inevitably land into legal trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Game Renaming Announcement:The Evolution of Pickmos<br>Dear Players,<br>Since the beginning of development,<br>we have been dedicated to building<br>a unique and profound ecological world.<br>To better align with our brand identity and lore,<br>our title is officially changing:\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3sgnTkvbTd\">pic.twitter.com\/3sgnTkvbTd<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Pickmos \/ Pickmon \/ \u30d4\u30c3\u30af\u30e2\u30b9 (@PickMon_EN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PickMon_EN\/status\/2042500268567511219?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 10, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Likely to address copyright concerns regarding the title itself, which &nbsp;sounded a bit too similar to <em>you know what franchise<\/em>, PocketGame announced on April 10 that it would be renaming Pickmon to Pickmos. However, only six days later, Networkgo issued a follow-up statement explaining it would be taking the steering wheel and officially intervening in the development of Pickmos, consequently taking down the game\u2019s Steam store page. According to the publishers, this was done to give the developers time to revise the game and \u201censure a controversy-free experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hello players, this is the publisher, Networkgo. We\u2019ve heard your feedback regarding the removal of our Steam store page and want to clear things up. Networkgo has officially intervened in the development of PocketGame. <br>We will be supervising the Pickmos team from a player\u2019s\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ckqt4AEYUj\">pic.twitter.com\/ckqt4AEYUj<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Pickmos \/ Pickmon \/ \u30d4\u30c3\u30af\u30e2\u30b9 (@PickMon_EN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PickMon_EN\/status\/2044732047709868392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 16, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Looking at the \u201crenewed\u201d Steam store page, the header image for the game has been substantially edited. Notably, the creature which was criticized for resembling a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ElpsyFake01\/status\/2031036659450478768?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">popular fan design of Mega Meganium<\/a> has been removed from the image alongside the Pikachu and Lucario \u201clookalikes.\u201d Additionally, the Charizard-looking monster has been replaced with a more mechanical-looking dragon design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the original trailer video is missing from the Steam store page and is delisted on YouTube, it seems like PocketGame might still need some time to properly replace all of the controversial assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/hoyoverses-honkai-nexus-anima-infringes-nintendo-mount-patent-from-palworld-lawsuit-ip-consultant-says\/\"><strong>Hoyoverse\u2019s\u00a0Honkai: Nexus Anima \u201cinfringes\u201d Nintendo mount patent from Palworld lawsuit, IP consultant says\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/palworld-changing-game-mechanics-because-of-nintendo-lawsuit-isnt-an-admission-of-infringement-japanese-patent-attorney-stresses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Palworld changing game mechanics because of Nintendo lawsuit isn\u2019t an admission of infringement, Japanese patent attorney stresses\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pickmos returns to Steam after having store page taken down by the publishers in order to ensure a &#8220;controversy-free experience.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":66435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18,17],"class_list":["post-66432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-global-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pok\u00e9mon and Palworld clone Pickmos returns to Steam with \u201cupdated\u201d assets after plagiarism controversy - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pickmos returns to Steam after having store page taken down by the publishers in order to ensure a &quot;controversy-free experience.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pok\u00e9mon and Palworld clone Pickmos returns to Steam with \u201cupdated\u201d assets after plagiarism controversy - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pickmos returns to Steam after having store page taken down by the publishers in order to ensure a &quot;controversy-free experience.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-11T06:36:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-11T06:36:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260511-66432-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"863\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"495\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pok\u00e9mon and Palworld clone Pickmos returns to Steam with \u201cupdated\u201d assets after plagiarism controversy - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Pickmos returns to Steam after having store page taken down by the publishers in order to ensure a \"controversy-free experience.\"","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pok\u00e9mon and Palworld clone Pickmos returns to Steam with \u201cupdated\u201d assets after plagiarism controversy - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Pickmos returns to Steam after having store page taken down by the publishers in order to ensure a \"controversy-free experience.\"","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-05-11T06:36:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-11T06:36:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":863,"height":495,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260511-66432-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"\u0110or\u0111e P","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u0110or\u0111e P","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/"},"author":{"name":"\u0110or\u0111e P","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e62deb6406bad91fe5f441afc29c1696"},"headline":"Pok\u00e9mon and Palworld clone Pickmos returns to Steam with \u201cupdated\u201d assets after plagiarism controversy","datePublished":"2026-05-11T06:36:54+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-11T06:36:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/"},"wordCount":426,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260511-66432-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Global)","News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/","name":"Pok\u00e9mon and Palworld clone Pickmos returns to Steam with \u201cupdated\u201d assets after plagiarism controversy - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260511-66432-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-11T06:36:54+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-11T06:36:56+00:00","description":"Pickmos returns to Steam after having store page taken down by the publishers in order to ensure a \"controversy-free experience.\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260511-66432-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260511-66432-header.jpg","width":863,"height":495},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/pokemon-and-palworld-clone-pickmos-returns-to-steam-with-updated-assets-after-plagiarism-controversy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pok\u00e9mon and Palworld clone Pickmos returns to Steam with \u201cupdated\u201d assets after plagiarism controversy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e62deb6406bad91fe5f441afc29c1696","name":"\u0110or\u0111e P","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","caption":"\u0110or\u0111e P"},"description":"Automaton West Editor","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/djordje-p\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66432"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66437,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66432\/revisions\/66437"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}