Palworld IP Problems Overblown
Hi there,
I think a lot of folks expect Pokemon to sue Palworld. Maybe they will? But it looks more likely that they’ll just go after modders to make sure they don’t make Palworld actually contain Pokemon. More below as well Microsoft’s VR meeting space and how Apple Vision Pro scalpers bypassed face scanning.
Tom
Big Story
"Pokemon Company says it intends to investigate Palworld | TechCrunch"
"Major mod site says to keep your Pokémon content far away from Palworld | Ars Technica"
This Palworld story keeps developing so I had to make it my top thing today. If you're just catching up, it's the "Pokemon with guns" game that was sort of a joke/meme but has set records for sales and become the holder of the record for second most concurrent players on Steam.
One of the many controversies around it is how similar it is to many other games out there, including Pokemon. Pocketpair, which makes Palworld, says they were more going for Ark Survival Evolved than Pokémon. Nevertheless, The Pokemon Company issued a statement, not naming Palworld by name, but saying it had been alerted of a gamer that was similar to its IP, that it had not authorized another company to use its IP and "We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon."
This has led to what I consider an over-interpretation of some rather mundane copyright enforcement. Nintendo has issues takedown notices for YouTube videos showing mods of Palworld that made the Pals into actual Pokemon. That's normal Nintendo stuff. Nintendo is part owner in The Pokemon Company and regularly issues the widest possible takedowns for anything involving its content. So, it really doesn't matter that this is related to Palworld. Meanwhile Nexus Mods said it will not host Pokemon-themed Palworld mods because they know Nintendo will come at them. Again, not particularly related to Palworld. What may be getting lost on some people is that nexus will still host other Palworld mods. Just not ones that involve Pokemon characters. Arguably the most fun ones but it's understandable why.
You may rightly point to hundreds of other Pokémon-themed mods on Nexus World for other games, to which I say, when those get popular enough that Nintendo will notice them, expect Nexus to no longer host those either.
So, there you have it. It's a quintessential case of massively popular thing gets way more attention on it, causing big companies to play close attention and get strict on IP. I would expect nothing less.
Other Stories
"Microsoft launches Mesh, a virtual meeting platform on Teams"
Microsoft launched its 3D virtual meeting space, called Microsoft Mesh, which works in Teams. So instead of doing a video meeting you can show up as a Sims-like avatar from the waist up in a very nice beige room. Consulting firm Accenture and pharmaceutical-focused Takeda have been testing it and swear their meetings are more collaborative and immersive.
Companies can customize meeting spaces with logos and such to make it look on brand, and without needing to do any coding. You can access it through the PC or by using a Meta Quest. Folks on a Business or Enterprise plan can get a 6-month free trial and others can pay $4 per user per month.
Apple Vision Pro compatibility has not been mentioned. Is it the future of work? Probably not. Is it the thing that leads to the thing that leads to the future of work? Maybe.
"Vision Pro scalpers used bots to place thousands of pre-orders"
Speaking of the Vision Pro, the usual bots were in play to order them and then resell them at a profit on eBay. I know some of you have a visceral hatred of this and in my opinion, tend to overestimate its importance. But there's no denying it happens and happened this time. The hurdle in this case was needing an Apple ID and to do a face scan to order. The automation of Apple account creation is perfectly possible despite impediments, but the face scan appeared to require a little more work. Apparently, the bot-makers were able to capture the code of one face scan and then use that code to submit the scan in all orders. That means any Apple Vision Pro you buy from a scalper will have been deigned to fit the exact same head. Apple's exchange policy allows you to come in and get it re-sized for you so it's not the end of usability for anyone who were to buy one. But it also implies that Apple ought to be able to indemnify these orders if it wanted to.
Other bots opted for store pickups so the face scan can be done by whoever buys the order.
"Another iPhone record set: #1 in China for the first time ever"
"Apple’s Smartphone Shipments in China Fell in Fourth Quarter - WSJ"
Well, those headlines seem to be saying opposite things. What gives?
IDC says shipments of iPhones in China fell 2.1% in Q4. The key here is that smartphone shipments in China overall fell 5%. So, Apple fell less than the average. And that actually put it in first place as Vivo fell from the top spot to third. It's the first time Apple has led smartphone shipments in China. Huawei also overperformed, climbing 36% to get into 4th place. Honor, the budget smartphone company spun out from Huawei, took the second spot despite declining almost 1%.
The story here is that Huawei is digging out of its Us-restrictions to get back in the domestic smart phone game. And Apple and Honor are bucking the declining market more than most. In a country that has a lot of anti-US sentiment and is rooting for its homegrown Huawei, it's basically good news for Apple.
"Streaming Service Costs Drive New Era of Hollywood Piracy - Bloomberg"
As prices increase and consolidation makes consumer choice costlier this is a normal market reaction. The fact that piracy sites are making $2 billion in subscriber fees and ads means people are willing to pay for content, the legitimate streaming market just needs to bring its prices back in line with consumer demand and also make it easier to navigate the choices. And that will happen.
"Japan's precision moon lander has hit its target, but it appears to be upside-down"
"Japan's Moon Landing Hopes Are Still High After Power Loss - Bloomberg"
I'm cheering for SLIM! Turn out it landed upside-down, but folks should realize it still had a more precise landing than any other craft before. Most probes pick a landing zone that's 10 kilometers wide. SLIM was able to target just 100 meters. That part worked fine. And it will make it easier to land on the moon successfully in the future. The problem wasn't the targeting, one of the thrusters failed at 50 meters and the thing just toppled. So, they landed exactly where they wanted, just upside down. Which makes it even more impressive in my opinion. And as I mentioned before, hopefully when the sun moves farther over in the lunar sky the solar panels will start to charge up.
Quick Takes
"Microsoft lays off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees - The Verge"
Sad, but fairly typical after mergers. But man, it's been a hard January for the video game industry, hasn't it? Ouch.
We are creeping toward the much more disruptive ability to generate videos with text. This is 5 seconds of animals, so still a long way to go.
"Meta is rolling out tighter teen messaging limitations and parental controls | TechCrunch"
Basically, if you're younger than 16 or in some regions 18, you can only get messages form people you follow.
"Twitch announces 60/40 revenue split in expanded Plus Program | TechCrunch"
It's a different rate so I don't know how it will affect the GDI Twitch channel. Likely it will bring down the revenue some but not a lot. At least that's what I expect.
"Meta Building New $800 Million AI-Focused Data Center in Indiana - Bloomberg"
Technically it's in Indiana, but it's in suburban Louisville, Kentucky which is a tech hot spot in the mid-south.
"Fubo Launches AI-Generated Headlines Form Live News Programs | Cord Cutters News"
Auto-generated descriptions of what a news show is talking about would be more accurate. It's thumbnail generation. Cool but not as controversial as I thought at first blush.
Interesting Reads
"Inside a Global Phone Spy Tool Monitoring Billions"
"Alphabet’s Google to Host Hugging Face’s AI Software on Its Cloud Network - Bloomberg"
"ASML China Sales Surged Despite Secret Dutch Deal With US - Bloomberg"
"SK Hynix Reports Surprise Profit, Bets on AI Chip Demand - Bloomberg"
"Nokia beats profit expectations and forecasts demand recovery | Reuters"
"German Solar Start-Up Expands in US to Challenge China Dominance - Bloomberg"
"AI will increase the number and impact of cyberattacks, intel officers say | Ars Technica"
"Worldcoin to launch new Orb to make its eyeball scanning device look “more friendly” | TechCrunch"
Thank you for correcting the spin on a number of these articles. If they had you on the SLIM team it mighta landed right side up!