Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll admit that we’re having a hard time remembering the last time a video game caused a serious “issue” within both the gaming community and the general public. Yes, in 2023, there were PLENTY of games that caused issues with gamers for things like “quality” and such, but those weren’t issues to those who didn’t play the game. However, with 2024 and the arrival of Palworld, things are getting a bit more…interesting. You no doubt heard about the “copyright infringement” issue that many have been citing. But now, many people have been calling out to PETA for what the game does with its “Pals,” and they indeed responded to those “cries for help.”
As you’ll see in the tweet below, PETA really did respond, but for those who want better clarification about why they’re commenting on this game at all, it has to do with the things you can do to the Pals that live within this video game. You see, while The Pokemon Company at least tries to make their “monster series” have respect for creatures, as much as one can when having the pocket monsters battle each other is the main game mechanic, Palworld doesn’t give the Pals that same amount of care.
Instead, you can not only raise and train your Pals, but you can force them to be part of a workforce where they can work until they die. Or, if you were in a situation where a monstrous Pal was chasing you and there was no easy way to escape, you could force one of your Pals to sacrifice itself so that you could escape.
Or, if worse comes to worse, you can literally eat one of the Pals that you caught. This is real, and PETA wasn’t pleased with it:
Believe it or not, this wasn’t the first time that PETA has responded to the “Unethical Treatment of Video Game Animals.” You remember the Koroks, right? Well, when Nintendo dropped their big game last year that featured the Koroks getting “abused” by gamers who were fed up with them, they sent out statements asking gamers to treat them fairly.
We doubt they took that message to heart. Ironically, while many aren’t pleased with Palworld on the “ethical side of things,” just as many have come to its defense by calling out PETA for questioning the ethics of a video game that is “clearly a parody.”
Perhaps they had nothing better to do with their day?
