The Pickmon controversy explained – is the game stealing art from Pokémon fans?

We've seen plenty of game art controversies over the years, but few have felt as intentional as Pickmon. If the upcoming monster collecting game's name sounds a lot like Pokémon, the similarities don't end there.

The game appears to also take liberal doses of inspiration from other Nintendo IPs, including Legend of Zelda, mixing them with the already-controversial Palworld. The unknown studio behind it, PocketGame, even has an uncannily similar name to Palworld developer Pocketpair.

PickMon | Summer Game Fest 2026 Trailer | Pocketgame - YouTube

Watch On

Pickmon still has no release date, but the trailer and Steam page bills it as a multiplayer open-world survival game for PC. It involves exploring a vast, Zelda-style world, capturing monsters with cards, gathering resources, farming and building “industrial empires.”

It appears to feature character designs and mechanics heavily inspired by Nintendo IPs as well as other franchises –– some gamers have pointed to similarities in mechanics between its fast-travel structures and the Aetheryte crystals in Final Fantasy XIV.

But as well as the initial allegations of some heavy borrowing from actual games, the accusations of plagiarism now go deeper. It seems that Pickmon may have even taken 'inspiration' from Pokémon fan art.

Two independent Pokémon fan artists think their original work was used without permission for the game's promotional materials with only relatively minor edits.

El.psy.fake (see the post above) shared a concept for a Mega Meganium Pokémon on Instagram back on March 10, 2025. That's almost a year to the day before a very similar character design cropped up in Pickmon's capsule art on Steam this week with some alterations to the creature's wings and ears.

Meanwhile, a creature in Pickmon's trailer looks like the Pokémon Ceruledge but with four legs instead of two. A design decision intended to differentiate it from Nintendo's IP? Well, fan artist jayjay_mons has pointed out that he posted a similar concept on Instagram back in February 2025.

While the designs aren't exact copies, they look strikingly similar. Liberal copying from Nintendo means running the risk of legal action – Nintendo is already suing Palworld, but taking character design ideas from fans who aren't so likely to have the resources to mount a challenge feels like a new low from a game developer. It also raises the question of whether Pickmon's developers were just lazy or if they're intentionally trying to court controversy.

Maybe they're hoping Nintendo's lawyers might be too bust taking on the US government over tariffs.