Pickmos pulled from Steam after Pokemon clone backlash, publisher steps in

Pickmos was pulled from Steam after a fast-moving backlash over how closely the creature-collecting survival-crafting game appeared to track Pokémon and Palworld. The removal came as publisher Networkgo stepped in on April 16, 2026, taking direct control of the project and saying it would supervise PocketGame from a player’s perspective while the game is reworked.

The timing only sharpened the backlash. The game had first surfaced in March 2026 as Pickmon, then changed its name to Pickmos on April 10. By the time it vanished from Steam, the rename had done little to settle the criticism. PocketGame said it was revising the game to ensure a controversy-free experience, and said Pickmos would only return after publisher approval. Because the game never had a confirmed release date, the talk of a re-release refers to the Steam store page coming back, not a launch moving down the calendar.

The response from players was blunt. Community discussion on Steam included a post calling the game an asset flip using stolen designs and models, while a Pokémon fan artist alleged that PocketGame had stolen one of their designs. Those accusations pushed the story beyond simple “looks like Pokémon” chatter and into the much riskier territory of originality, attribution, and possible rights issues. Once that happens, a rename or a few art tweaks stop looking like a fix and start looking like damage control.

That is why the publisher’s intervention matters. Networkgo’s move functioned as more than a delisting. It was a reputational reset, one designed to keep the project alive while signaling that the current version had become too radioactive to stay public. Reports around the backlash also pointed to echoes of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Overwatch, Final Fantasy 14, and fan art, widening the sense that the game had been built out of borrowed silhouettes rather than a clear identity of its own.

The wider context makes the risk even sharper. Palworld has already been tied up in a legal battle with Nintendo, and Palworld itself was forced to alter its Pal Sphere summoning system so it looked less like a Poké Ball. That history has left the creature-collector space under a microscope, where even a small developer can find itself facing instant scrutiny from players, rights holders, and storefronts alike.

PocketGame had tried to explain the title change by saying Pickmos was meant to better align with its brand identity and lore, with “mos” standing for a grand cosmos. After the Steam takedown, that explanation sounded less like worldbuilding and more like a studio trying to outrun a comparison it had already lost.