The Pokémon Company Calls on Fans to Stop 'Attacking or Slandering' Illustrator Embroiled in TCG Pocket Plagiarism Scandal

The Pokémon Company has stepped successful to inquire fans to halt harassing a Pokémon TCG Pocket creator embroiled successful a plagiarism scandal.

It's been a agelong week for the folks astatine The Pokémon Company, which has been dealing with the fallout of a precise nationalist plagiarism accusation. It each started erstwhile Wisdom of Sea and Sky's paper designs were datamined and examined online earlier this week, sparking a wider treatment implicit The Pokémon Company's ineligible presumption for fanart, which look to suggest the institution could, if it wanted, bash immoderate it liked with fan-made designs. A time later, The Pokémon Company pulled the plan of a caller Pokémon TCG Pocket trading card.

"After interior review, we discovered that the paper accumulation squad provided incorrect materials arsenic authoritative documents to the illustrator commissioned to make these cards," it said astatine the time. "As a result, some cards person been replaced with a impermanent placeholder that the squad is actively moving to regenerate with caller artwork arsenic soon arsenic it's ready."

Despite claiming responsibility, though, TPC said it had go alert of "criticism" of the illustrator and has called for fans to refrain from attacking oregon slandering the artist, erstwhile again insisting the blasted lied internally.

“Regarding the antecedently announced contented with the Ho-Oh EX (3-star) and Lugia EX (3-star) illustrations – it has travel to our attraction that determination is disapproval towards the cards’ illustrator circulating online," reads a connection posted to Twitter/X, arsenic translated by Automaton.

"The illustration errors were caused by the accumulation teams of The Pokémon Company and Creatures Inc, who provided incorrect materials arsenic authoritative documents to the illustrator, and we mean to instrumentality afloat work for it."

Left: Ho-Oh's now-pulled Pokémon TCG Pocket card. Right: Ianjiujiu's archetypal design.

As Automaton explains, the The Pokémon Company commissions creation successful 1 of 2 ways: either by inviting illustrators to supply nonstop input into a design, oregon by giving them notation materials that they indispensable follow. In this case, it was the latter, truthful each the illustrator did was travel the materials they were provided with.

The connection closed connected "once again offer[ing] our deepest apologies" and a committedness the squad volition "continue to enactment harder than ever to guarantee thorough prime power and forestall recurrence."

Speaking to IGN this week, video crippled manufacture ineligible adept Richard Hoeg, big of the Virtual Legality podcast, said The Pokémon Company's ineligible presumption connected instrumentality creation enactment arsenic an acknowledgement that fans volition make their ain Pokémon creation — but that ultimately, from a ineligible standpoint, immoderate publicly-shared designs autumn nether the ownership of The Pokémon Company.

"It efficaciously says 'Look, we (TPC/Nintendo) are legally inactive the lone ones allowed to marque derivative works (fan creation included), but we each cognize you're going to bash it," Hoeg said of the terms, "so if you do, connected the off-chance it's special, we tin usage it without different paying you (since it was ours to statesman with).'"

Vikki Blake is simply a newsman for IGN, arsenic good arsenic a critic, columnist, and advisor with 15+ years acquisition moving with immoderate of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's besides a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her astatine BlueSky.