Nintendo issues DMCA takedown for Palworld Pokémon mod video

The monster catching adventure game Palworld has come under fire lately for its similarities to the Pokémon series in both look and design. While the moral and legal questions about the game itself are still up for debate, Nintendo has decided that there’s no gray area involved with mods that use their copyrighted content.

A YouTuber known as ToastedShoes created a mod for Palworld which replaces every creature in the game with actual Pokémon models. It even adds recognizable characters like Ash and Misty to the mix. While the mod has not been released to the public, ToastedShoes did share a video preview of it on X (formerly Twitter). This video is what pushed Nintendo to act, issuing a DMCA takedown and getting the video removed from the site completely. That said, it hasn’t stopped ToastedShoes from sharing a new video on his YouTube channel showing the mod off.

ToastedShoes says he’d like to release the mod for free to the public, but is taking things slowly for now based on the negative response from Nintendo. It seems clear that Nintendo has no interest in seeing characters they have a stake in thought of in the same light as the more violent, edgier Palworld. It remains to be seen if they’ll take any further action, or if the Palworld mod will ever see the light of day.