Temu-tier Palworld imitator Pickmon changes a single title letter 'to better align with our brand identity' and definitely not for any other reason, guys, honest

Last month, a Steam listing emerged for Pickmon, an upcoming creature-collecting survival game that gained immediate attention through the Olympian ballsiness of its visual knockoffery. Pickmon's trailers and marketing imagery featured designs with near-identical similarity to characters, creatures, and objects from Pokémon, Final Fantasy, Zelda, Overwatch, and even Palworld—which, infamously, had sparked its own controversy by inviting similar comparisons.

Pickmon, however, was a name not long for this world, because its official X account announced last week that the game has undergone a bold rebranding—by which I mean a single letter in its title has changed. Pickmon is dead. Long live Pickmos.

"Since the beginning of development, we have been dedicated to building a unique and profound ecological world," said NetworkGo, publisher of the game formerly known as Pickmon. "To better align with our brand identity and lore, our title is officially changing: Pickmon → Pickmos."

According to NetworkGo, the creatures in the game will still be known as Pickmon, but the title Pickmos better conveys "a complete Ecosystem, a grand Cosmos," and acts as "a better vessel for the fantasy adventure we are building for you."

NetworkGo doesn't specify whether the decision was also motivated by the possibility that Nintendo's trigger-happy legal team could come knocking. Its ongoing patent lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair indicates a willingness to use whatever ammunition it can against its perceived imitators.

The criteria for claiming copyright infringement on fictional characters are fraught enough that even Nintendo would be hard-pressed to pursue legal action over the visual resemblance between Pickmos' creatures and Pokémon designs themselves. Brand confusion is a different story. In the US, for example, trademark law allows trademark owners to sue when an alleged infringer's branding creates a likelihood of confusion with the existing trademark. I'm not an IP lawyer, but when Pickmon not only sounded like Pokémon but also prominently featured Temu-tier Charizard and Pikachu knockoffs in its marketing, it doesn't seem like Nintendo would struggle to make that argument.

The name change doesn't seem to be earning Pickmos much good will. When confronted by an X user who asked if Pickmos' publishers "think we're stupid" while posting images comparing its designs to existing characters, NetworkGo said it "will discuss this with our art director immediately."