Text | Entertainment Values, Author丨Hoshino, Editor丨Meiqi
5 million copies were sold in 3 days after it was launched, and in less than 48 hours after it was released, the number of simultaneous online users on Steam exceeded 1 million, and the peak number of online players exceeded 1.29 million, ranking fifth on the historical list of Steam...... Before January was over, we welcomed the first phenomenal game of the year, Palworld, which is not limited to veteran players, but is also setting off a subcultural carnival.
While it quickly became popular, "Phantom Beast Palu" was also full of controversy - the art design and character setting almost completely "tributed" to Pokémon, and the gameplay was the culmination of various game genres, and it was awarded the title of "Ultimate Stitching Monster". Not only that, but the production company also has a "history" of AI-generated images, and Palu has a Pokémon "gene" that can be recognized by the naked eye.
"Phantom Beast Palu", which exploded at the beginning of the year, also pushed the phenomenon of "stitching monsters" in the game industry in recent years, as well as the quiet penetration of generative AI, to us. In 2024, it's time for the gaming industry to seriously face these two unavoidable problems.
"Phantom Beast Palu" became popular, not only because of the "rubbing" Pokémon
The viral spread of "Phantom Beast Palu" after its launch is largely due to the popularity of Pokémon, the world's No. 1 commercially valuable IP, which, as one gamer put it, solves "the contradiction between the long-term accumulation of high-quality Pokémon game needs by players and the low-intensity development of Pokémon games by Lao Ren".
In November 2022, the Switch console game "Pokémon Zhu/Purple" sold tens of millions of copies within 3 days of its launch, but the word-of-mouth hit the lowest since the 9th generation, and seventy percent of players gave bad reviews. Players have long complained about GameFreak, which is lying on the gold medal IP and does not want to make progress, which can be described as "the world has suffered for a long time". Nintendo's platform exclusivity strategy for Pokémon game development, although it has created a "cash cow" that integrates software and hardware, has also greatly limited the possibilities of the Pokémon game world in terms of hardware performance, gameplay development, and social interaction.
From the global detonation of the mobile AR game Pokemon GO eight years ago, it can be seen that Pokémon fans want more ways to play than just turn-based battles. It's a pity that in order not to affect the sales of NS, Pokemon GO is destined to be just a test of the waters, and there is no follow-up. It wasn't until "Pokémon Zhu/Purple" that Nintendo began to embrace the open world, giving players the freedom to explore, ride mythical beasts, capture and cultivate at will, but judging from player feedback, this is only a "half-finished product" that lacks sincerity.
Now, "Phantom Beast Palu" finally satisfies the long-suppressed "fantasy" of Pokémon players - you are no longer just a Pokémon trainer, but you can become a "Pokémon hunter", using bows and arrows, bazookas, submachine guns, etc. to "capture" them, and you can also become a "capitalist" to squeeze them to work for themselves, open camps with them, engage in business, and build homes. It is precisely because the game mechanics of "Phantom Beast Palu" in the "Pokémon skin" are completely different from the original Pokémon, and it integrates various gameplay methods such as SOC, simulation management, and open world, so that it can become a dream paradise for players to "do whatever they want" (including "dark" ideas such as enslaving Pokémon).
Of course, relying on Pokémon IP to create topics to attract traffic is only the first step in the success of "Phantom Beast Palu", and the reason why it can retain players is that it has created a "masterpiece" of survival and open games, with a low threshold for getting started, moderate game intensity, and very friendly to players who pursue immersion and leisure in fragmented time, which can be called a "pension game". Its popularity is precisely because it accurately grasps the psychological needs of the social animal player group.
Uncover the "gray area" of the game industry
With such a Pokémon-like pet image and art style, combined with the producer's Pocketpair studio's penchant for AI painting, and the initial team size of just four people, it's hard not to suspect that the game's characters are AI-assisted.
Many players have compared the image of Palu and Pokémon, and it is clear that the design elements are split and combined. Given that Pocketpair's predecessor was a game with AI drawing as the core mechanic, and CEO Takuro Mizobe has repeatedly praised the potential of AI drawing in content creation, "Phantom Beast Palu" has a great suspicion of "AI crime". Takuro Mizobe denied such a "presumption of guilt", saying that most of the game's more than 100 character concept designs were completed by a graduate student. However, such a response was not enough to quell the controversy.
In fact, Palu is just a tip of the "gray area" in the gaming industry. A recent survey of more than 3,000 game developers organized by Game Developers Conference (GDC) organizers showed that more than 30% of people already rely on generative AI, and nearly 50% are not opposed to using generative AI for game development. In the eyes of some domestic practitioners, games are one of the best application scenarios of AIGC. What followed was a growing copyright crisis.
While Pocketpair claims that Palu has undergone legal review and has not received any action from other companies at the time of release, the game is dangerously teetering on the edge of the law.
What is intriguing is the attitude of the Pokémon player community, although many people scoff at the "plagiarism" of "Phantom Beast Palu", but there are still many players who have an ambivalence - on the one hand, admit that "copying must have been copied", and on the other hand, hope that it will force GameFreak to stop lying down. Plagiarism but true fragrance - the sales of 4 million copies in 3 days exposed the attitude of most players towards AI-generated content.
Obviously, game companies are looking at this mentality of players, and it is conceivable that a large number of follow-up works that draw on the ideas of "Phantom Beast Palu" will soon emerge, and even accelerate the diffusion of "art AI + gameplay stitching", which may have a far-reaching impact on the game industry.
Why is the "stitching" game so popular?
"The architecture of Pokémon, the cultivation of the Ark, the background and sound effects of Hyrule, the exploration of Genshin Impact, the leisure and retirement of Stardew Valley, if this is not fun, it can only be a problem with the game above, and millions of people online at the same time can already prove his popularity. The popularity of "Phantom Beast Palu" also once again revealed the true attitude of gamers towards the "stitching game" - they don't hate stitching, they only hate stitching that is not done well and cannot keep up with optimization, which also explains why "stitching monsters" can emerge in an endless stream.
Twitter blogger@Th06_ "Phantom Beast Palu" logo based on player reviews
In recent years, many popular games in China have revolved around the sound of "stitching monsters", which has also become the most commonly used "stick" in player debates. In fact, except for the creation of a certain type of game independently, there are other games that borrow from each other in terms of mechanics and gameplay, but the degree is different. The stitching of the game itself is not a problem, the problem is whether to think clearly about the core attraction of the game, rather than "sewing for the sake of sewing", sewing is "taking the strengths of many games", and playing smash is "plagiarizing the 'stitching monster' of many games".
Not only that, but we also care about why such a "combination of all plays" game is so popular. Last year, one of the reasons why "Egg Boy Party" became the "dark horse" of the year was that it integrated casual game genres such as Fall Guys, Goose and Duck Kill, and Peek-a-boo, which can meet the needs of players for a "one-stop" social carnival, and anyone can find a way to play that suits them. The "weak competitiveness" mode on the mobile phone is particularly suitable for the increasingly fragmented game scene.
Similarly, the success of "Phantom Beast Palu" is due to the successful integration of various game genres, which satisfies players' various fantasies about the Pokémon world at one time. Whether it is IP "rubbing" or gameplay "transplanting", generative AI is behind the scenes, and the game industry may be entering an era of accelerated "mutual learning" and "mutual integration", followed by the increasing "friction coefficient" between enterprises, and it is hoped that the relevant laws can keep up in time and provide evidence-based guidelines for the industry.