The publisher wants to supervise the team behind the game formerly known as Pickmon, while the developers do not seem to have thrown in the towel either.
Just a few days after the Palworld imitator Pickmon changed its name to Pickmos in order to better match its brand image, it was removed from Steam, and it appears that developer PocketGame received a bit of a warning in the process. Ironically, the apparent rebuke came from Pickmos publisher NetworkGo, which rather bizarrely suggested in a tweet that the entire mess was PocketGame’s fault: “Hello players, this is the publisher, NetworkGo. We’ve heard your feedback regarding the removal of our Steam store page and want to clear things up. NetworkGo has officially intervened in the development of PocketGame. We will be supervising the Pickmos team from a player’s perspective to ensure the game keeps getting better. Thank you for your support.”
Hello players, this is the publisher, Networkgo. We’ve heard your feedback regarding the removal of our Steam store page and want to clear things up. Networkgo has officially intervened in the development of PocketGame.
We will be supervising the Pickmos team from a player’s… pic.twitter.com/ckqt4AEYUj— Pickmos / Pickmon / ピックモス (@PickMon_EN) April 16, 2026
We are revising the game to ensure a controversy-free experience. It will be re-released once our publisher gives the final approval.
— Pickmos / Pickmon / ピックモス (@PickMon_EN) April 16, 2026
Confusingly, a message appeared on the same Twitter account, seemingly from PocketGame, just before NetworkGo’s intervention announcement, and it also implied that NetworkGo had taken creative control, claiming the game was being revised to ensure a controversy-free experience. The game will be re-released once the publisher gives final approval. In response to allegations that Pickmon had stolen work from a fan artist, the studio asked Mr. Fakemon to provide evidence of trademark rights covering the designs in question:
“Would Mr. Fakemon please provide proof of trademark rights for the designs in question? Our designs are handled by a professional team responsible for all trademark filings. Our team searched the USPTO database and found no record showing that Mr. Fakemon’s company holds trademarks for the creatures shown in the images. If any legitimate concern arises, our legal counsel will coordinate with our art director to make the necessary changes.”
Maybe it is just a language barrier, or maybe the poor person running Pickmos’s social channels has somehow never heard of Pokémon or Overwatch, but even if that were true, the whole situation remains pretty funny. This announcement about publisher oversight could also be simple misdirection. Whatever the reason, traces confirming Pickmos’s existence are still visible on SteamDB, but otherwise it has vanished. Whether it ever returns is something we will just have to wait and see…
Source: PCGamer
