Pickmos, the monster-taming survival game that spent its entire public life being accused of ripping off Pokemon and Palworld, has been pulled from Steam. Publisher Networkgo stepped in on April 16, announcing it would be supervising developer PocketGame directly to get the game into shape before it goes back up.
The publisher steps in
Networkgo's Steam statement doesn't dance around the situation. "We've heard your feedback regarding the removal of our Steam store page and want to clear things up," the publisher wrote. "Networkgo has officially intervened in the development of Pickmos. We will be supervising the PocketGame team from a player's perspective to ensure the game keeps getting better."
PocketGame separately told followers on X that "we are revising the game to ensure a controversy-free experience," adding that Pickmos "will be re-released once our publisher gives the final approval." To be clear, the game never had a release date to begin with, so "re-released" really just means back on Steam.
A name change that fooled nobody
The timing here is worth noting. Pickmos was originally announced just last month under the name Pickmon, which, yes, is one letter away from a certain globally dominant monster-catching franchise. PocketGame changed the title this week, claiming "Pickmos" would "better align with our brand identity and lore" and that the "-mos" suffix represents a "grand Cosmos" and "a more powerful presence."
The gaming community was not moved by this explanation.
The studio name itself, PocketGame, sits uncomfortably close to Pocketpair, the developer behind Palworld. Whether that's a coincidence or a deliberate attempt to ride name recognition is something the internet has already made up its mind about.
danger
Pickmos has never had a confirmed release date. Any references to it being "re-released" refer solely to its Steam store page being restored after removal.
What the Steam community actually said
Since Pickmos surfaced in March, its Steam community hub has been flooded with plagiarism accusations. One widely-upvoted discussion post labeled it a "SCAM WARNING," claiming the game is "an asset flip using stolen designs, models, etc from various sources." A Pokemon fan artist separately alleged that PocketGame "stole one of my designs," saying the team "didn't even try to change something and make it a bit less obvious."
That kind of direct accusation, from an original creator pointing at a specific creature design, is a different category of problem than the general "this looks inspired by Pokemon" discourse that Palworld navigated at launch.
The Palworld comparison cuts both ways
Here's the thing: some of the loudest criticism of Pickmos has come from Palworld fans, which puts the genre in an awkward position. Palworld itself still faces a patent infringement lawsuit from Nintendo and The Pokemon Company, and Pocketpair's own publishing head reacted to the original Pickmon reveal with "someone is a fan of the genre, I guess" rather than anything more pointed.
The key difference that critics keep pointing to is intent and execution. Palworld built something genuinely distinct over time, with survival mechanics and a tone that carved out its own identity. Pickmos, based on what was visible before the Steam page went down, appeared to be doing the opposite: leaning into the similarities rather than away from them.
The broader monster-taming genre is crowded right now. Temtem: Pioneers just pivoted toward Palworld-style survival crafting. Palworld 1.0 is still in development. There's real appetite for this type of game, which makes it more baffling that PocketGame apparently decided the path forward was maximum imitation rather than minimum viable originality.
What comes next for Pickmos
Networkgo hasn't given a timeline for when Pickmos returns to Steam, and given the scale of the revision being implied, that's probably the right call. The publisher framing this as overseeing development "from a player's perspective" suggests the issues go beyond a few character redesigns.
For anyone curious about the monster-taming survival space while Pickmos sits in revision, browse our latest gaming news for updates on Temtem: Pioneers and Palworld's ongoing road to 1.0. Those two have earned their visibility through actual development progress rather than controversy management.
Pickmos has a steep climb ahead. Getting back on Steam is the easy part. Convincing a community that has already labeled it a scam that it's worth a second look is the real challenge, and checking out our reviews of legitimate genre entries makes that hill look even steeper by comparison.
