Pokémon Clone's Big Rebrand? It Changed One Letter

Creature-collecting survival game Pickmon, which turned heads last month for looking remarkably similar to both Palworld and Pokémon, has announced a rebrand. The new name is Pickmos. One letter different. That's it.

In a statement posted on X, developer PocketGame explains the change is to "better align with our brand identity and lore." According to the studio, the "-mos" suffix represents "a complete Ecosystem" and "a grand Cosmos," and the full name "carries a more powerful presence, acting as a better vessel for the fantasy adventure we are building for you." The creatures themselves are still called Pickmon, which the statement phrases as "we cute creatures", apparently written from the perspective of the monsters, which raises questions I don't have time to answer.

The statement doesn't mention Pokémon once, but having "mon" in the title of a game that already looks this close to Nintendo's franchise was always going to be a problem. Swapping it for "mos" is the minimum viable distance from a trademark dispute.

The rename does nothing to address the design controversy that's been following Pickmos since its March reveal. A Pokémon fan artist previously alleged the game lifted designs from their unofficial Mega Meganium "Fakemon" artwork. PocketGame initially told users it would adjust designs based on feedback, but more recent responses have shifted tone considerably. The studio has since asked the artist to "provide proof of the trademark rights for the designs in question," noted that its own team "found no record of Mr. Fakemon's company holding trademarks" in the USPTO database, and told the artist to stop using the Pokémon logo in their own work. Networkgo and PocketGame are targeting a Nintendo Switch release, with no launch window announced.