One of the biggest videogame modding platforms in the world, Nexus Mods, is hesitant to include any Palworld Pokemon mods on the site due to Nintendo’s history of filing copyright strikes, legal challenges, and DMCAs against projects that use its IP. Nexus tells PCGamesN it is “not comfortable hosting this content,” but that Palworld mods, in general, will still be available to download.
Palworld is everywhere, and when that happens in PC gaming, mods are sure to follow. This means within a week of launch we’ve been seeing Palworld mods that change mechanics, revamp the visuals, and yes, even add Pokemon into the game over the titular Pals.
Not everywhere wants to host these mods, however, so I spoke to Nexus after it looked like an Ash Ketchum mod for the survival game had been removed from the site. Here’s what they had to say.
“We do think that adding Pokemon content to Palworld is a very cool idea and we understand why people would want such a thing. However, we’re not comfortable hosting this content,” Nexus Mods community lead Mathew Elliott says in a statement sent to PCGamesN.
“As you may know, Nintendo (who jointly own the Pokemon franchise) has a consistent record of mercilessly submitting legal challenges, DMCAs, and takedowns against fan-made content. Given Palworld’s similarity to the Pokemon franchise as a base game, hosting content that adds copyrighted characters or assets into the game is almost certainly going to put us at risk of legal action.”
I reached out to Nexus Mods as part of a piece about Palworld Nintendo mods earlier today, with this response encompassing the issue. Many are understandably weary of including anything to do with Pokemon in Palworld projects. It’s also worth noting that Nexus doesn’t upload these mods, users do, and the team has the right to remove anything they want to.
“We don’t think it’s worth the risk to allow this content to be shared in our community. At best, we would have to deal with the headache of DMCA/legal threats from Nintendo, and at worst they may seek to take action against us and uploaders of the mods directly.
“There are many creative opportunities to explore mods for this game that add to the world and gameplay, but do not infringe on existing IP so obviously. We’re really excited to see what the Palworld modding community comes up with.”
On top of Nexus taking down a Pokemon-themed Palworld mod, YouTuber ‘ToastedShoes’ saw a Twitter trailer of theirs showing off a massive Palworld Pokemon mod copyright struck by Nintendo, and as of publication, their full video showing off the modpack is still up on YouTube.
While Palworld Pokemon mods might be incredibly popular, Nintendo likely isn’t afraid of taking any of them down on legal grounds, with modding communities like Nexus Mods understandably wary of hosting them.
If you’re playing, we’ve got a great Palworld pals list, alongside a big Palworld guide to help you with everything else.
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