Within the short span since its early access release in January 2024, Pocket Pair’s action-adventure title Palworld has repeatedly found itself at the center of controversies. Many people have accused the game of copying Pokemon designs, and while it has managed to steer clear of any legal issues, a recent DMCA takedown of a fan’s Sparkit design has raised some serious concerns within the Palworld community.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past month, chances are that you’ve already heard of Palworld. The monster-catching title that seems to take inspiration from the Pokemon franchise has hit the headlines of the gaming industry for breaking one record after another and hitting a concurrent player peak of a whopping 2.1 million players on Steam.

Amid Palworld’s meteoric rise to fame, a recent post on the official Palworld subreddit has cast a shadow of concern over its passionate community. Despite the game’s soaring success, a Reddit user’s claim of Nintendo issuing a DMCA takedown notice for their fan-created Sparkit design has left many fans wondering about the potential implications for the Palworld’s future.

The Reddit post reads, “Huh, didn’t realize ‘The Big N’ was the legal rights holder to Sparkit…” The post also included the DMCA takedown notice alongside an image of the user’s design.

Other Reddit users were swift to point out in the comments section that Sparkit is not a design made by Nintendo, while some others have claimed that this DMCA takedown might have been sent by a bot since “A human would know better.”

However, worries also surfaced among fans regarding the future of Palworld’s content, particularly amid speculation about Nintendo’s potential influence over designs it deems unfavorable. While uncertainties loom, the game’s immediate future appears secure, as it boasts a lot of distinctive features that safely set it apart from the Pokemon brand.

With tons of new content and crossplay between Steam and Xbox versions being on the horizon, there’s plenty to look forward to in Palworld’s future.