Pokemon fan artists are calling out Pickmon, an upcoming creature-collecting game, for allegedly stealing their fan-made designs.
The game, developed by PocketGame and published by Networkgo, had already drawn fire for creature designs that critics called near-identical copies of Pikachu, Charizard, and Link from Breath of the Wild, but the controversy didn’t stop at Nintendo’s doorstep.
Pokemon fan artists say Pickmon stole their designs
El.psy.fake alleged that Pickmon hadn’t just borrowed from Nintendo, but that it had lifted designs from fan artists too, including their Mega Meganium evolution. On Instagram, the artist said, “They didn’t even try to change something and make it a bit less obvious.”
Fellow artist @pokejayjay confirmed a separate theft on X, saying: “It’s literally my fan design for Mega Ceruledge stolen right there.” Neither artist had been credited or contacted.
Side-by-side comparison of a Pickmon promotional image on the left, featuring a green serpentine creature with pink floral wings, alongside el.psy.fake's fan-made Mega Meganium design on the right1 of 2
The allegations landed on top of an already hostile reception, as it was noted that several of Pickmon’s monsters appeared to be edited asset flips of Palworld creatures, with designs resembling Palworld’s Anubis and Quivern appearing with cosmetic changes layered on top.
The developer’s name, PocketGame, also strikes many as a deliberate nod to Palworld’s developer Pocketpair, and the game’s use of cards to capture creatures rather than balls read to critics as a transparent workaround of the monster-capturing patent at the center of Nintendo’s ongoing lawsuit against Palworld.
Calls for Steam to pull the game’s unrated demo grew louder as more artists came forward, with several community members predicting that Nintendo’s legal team would not be far behind.
