John “Bucky” Buckley, Head of Publishing & Communications at Pocketpair, returned from a flight to GDC 2026 to find his Discord account overwhelmed by 8,000 fan messages alerting him to the debut of Pickmon, a new creature-collecting game drawing immediate comparisons to Palworld and Pokémon.
A Digital Avalanche at 40,000 Feet
Community management in the gaming industry is a high-pressure role, but even by those standards, the reaction to Pickmon was extreme. While Buckley was mid-flight to San Francisco for the 2026 Game Developers Conference, the internet erupted over the reveal of this new title. Upon landing and reconnecting his device, he was met with a massive influx of notifications from the Palworld community, all eager to ensure he saw the new contender.
“Unfortunately, this was dropped on the world when I was 40,000 feet in the sky flying to San Francisco,” Buckley noted during an interview with PC Gamer. “I landed, connected my eSIM, and had about 8,000 Discord messages from Palworld fans who wanted me to know about this. God bless their little hearts.”
The Mystery of ‘Pickmon’
Despite the viral nature of the reveal, details regarding Pickmon and its developer, PocketGame, remain scarce. Buckley admitted that, due to his travel schedule, he has only been able to view the trailer briefly. He emphasized that there is currently little to no background information available on the studio behind the project, leaving the industry to speculate on its origins.
“Look, you know, full disclosure, I’m not lying. I’m being very, very honest. I genuinely haven’t had the time to properly have a look into it,” Buckley said. “From what I looked at very briefly, there’s no background on the studio or anything. So there’s obviously some circumstance that needs to be discovered about this.”
The “Knockoff Singularity”
The reception to Pickmon has been characterized by widespread amusement and skepticism. Critics have pointed out that the game feels like a derivative of existing creature collectors—including Palworld itself—leading to observations that the genre has reached a state of “knockoff singularity.”
While Nintendo has previously shown a willingness to pursue legal action regarding its patents, specifically targeting Palworld in an ongoing and complex legal battle, the company has yet to comment on Pickmon. For now, Buckley remains focused on his responsibilities, though he anticipates the conversation will continue once he returns to Japan.
“Whether it’s someone under a secret name, or whether it’s a studio of a studio, or whether it is just some small unity team, I don’t know,” Buckley added. “I watched the trailer. Definitely had a chuckle. And I’m sure when I return to Japan, someone’s going to talk to me about it.”
