Japanese talent agencies reportedly advise clients to avoid involvement with Palworld

According to reports in Japanese news media, entertainment agencies “don’t want to antagonize Pokemon,” by having their clients involved with Palworld. One agency is now reportedly advising clients not to mention Palworld on social media.

Since its release last month, Palworld has sold over 12 million copies and broken the third-party launch record on Xbox game pass. The hype doesn’t seem to be slowing, with the game still boasting nearly 20 million concurrent players a day.

Despite the massive popularity of Palworld, one of the biggest criticisms from its detractors is the similarity the game bears to Pokemon. Many say the Pals in Palworld are reminiscent of the designs of various Pokemon, and plenty of folks felt there was enough similarity to warrant concern.

The Pokemon Company released an official statement on January 25 saying they were investigating any unauthorized usage of their IP. And that seems to be enough to make Japanese talent agencies skittish.

According to a report from Tokyo Sports, Japanese Entertainment agencies are worried about ‘antagonizing’ the Pokemon company — with one executive claiming their agency “told our talents not to mention Palworld on social media or in public.”

They went on to explain they came to the decision out of “consideration” for the Pokemon company and one that “took into account future collaborations.”

Japanese entertainment agencies, or ‘jimusho’ are a massive part of Japan’s entertainment agency. While jimusho can be translated as ‘talent agency’, the style of management services offered by these agencies is vastly different from talent agencies in Western countries. They also exert a lot more control over what the talent signed to them can say and do publicly.

While a jimusho does all the usual things, finding talent auditions and negotiating contracts, they also hold a lot of influential power over Japan’s entertainment industry too. Largely thanks to connections and cooperatives between different agencies and external companies. Especially in areas like product placement and cross-promotion.

With streaming becoming more and more popular in Japan, jimusho have begun to include more streamers and vtubers amongst their talent lineups. A crackdown on Palworld publicity by agencies could mean fewer opportunities for Pocketpair to engage with them to promote the game on home soil.

So far the Japanese gaming community seems to be enjoying Palworld overall. Some popular Japanese vtubers have even been sharing their gameplay with fans.