Unlicensed IP Faces a Reckoning
The breakout success of Palworld and its striking resemblance to Pokémon sparked a great deal of debate about what constitutes IP infringement.
According to its creator, Palworld had been passed over by every publisher that had seen it, yet it reached 19M players in a matter of weeks. It has been followed by another surprise hit, Helldivers 2, which bears a striking resemblance to Starship Troopers — so much so that one reporter was surprised its developer didn’t get sued.
The speed of IP development has exploded as barriers for amateur game developers have been lowered thanks to UGC game platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite Creative, and also traditional game development platforms like Unreal Engine 5.
The increasing saturation of the game market means that developers of all kinds are turning to well-established IPs as an assurance that they will find an audience. However, indie developers, including those on Roblox and Fortnite, often infringe because they don’t have access to the IP holders or they may be unaware of copyright law to begin with. As it stands today, game developers of all kinds walk in a gray area of copyright and trademark law, and brand integrity, consumer confusion, and millions of dollars are at stake.
