Gab Hernandez 
Official Pokemon channels on Twitch are banning mentions of Palworld in chat following the game’s explosive launch.
To say Palworld is a hit is a bit of an understatement. Despite having minimal marketing before its launch, Palworld broke 3 million units sold according to the developer Pocketpair. That’s on top of having concurrent player counts on Steam that approached 1 million.
This all occurred while Pokemon was holding the Charlotte Regional, an official competitive event. Naturally, it was livestreamed on Twitch for fans of the competitive scene but the chat got more attention than the actual broadcast at times, as audience members who mentioned “Palworld” seemingly got their messages instantly deleted.
Why is Pokemon censoring Palworld on Twitch?
There is no official reason for Pokemon censoring Palworld on Twitch chat.
Pokemon hasn’t said anything at all about Palworld in any official capacity. Given the massive hype behind the game and the similarities between the two, it’s no surprise that the topic would come up during the event. The Pokemon Company seems to be pretty firmly against that, however as it wasn’t just taking down messages from cynical fans. Effectively every message that mentioned the game was deleted in short order.
With how chaotic Twitch chat can get, this is understandable to a degree and moderators may have just been attempting to keep things from getting overly raucous. As for whether this means The Pokemon Company is concerned about Palworld as a competitor, nothing’s for sure. That said, it is likely to keep an eye on Palworld’s success and potentially prevent it from growing too large.
In 2022, The Pokemon Company sued Chinese mobile game developers for what was effectively a mobile de-make of Pokemon that included collectible creatures that were copies of Pokemon. Of course, in the case of Palworld, there’s a bit more complexity. Palworld is very similar to Pokemon in terms of aesthetics and mechanics, but the actual designs are still unique.
The similarities between the two games ensure that they will be discussed concurrently for the foreseeable future. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s final DLC chapter launched ahead of Palworld and there are no notable spin-offs on the calendar. This means Palworld likely has most of 2024 to generate news and buzz as Pokemon mostly falls silent. Just don’t expect to talk about any of this on official Pokemon Twitch channels.
