Of course, but literally no one would have cared if not for the designs evoking Pokemon (but with guns!) because there are dozens of Ark clones over the years and it wasn't even a particularly good one. And even Ark only got where it did because "omg I want to tame a dinosaur!" itself years earlier.

But the deluge of Pokemon comparisons when Palworld came out was absurd. It was the entirety of its marketing, even if that was through word of mouth instead of deliberate, and as such it became the "Pokemon game if it was good!" to compare against Scarlet/Violet's myriad of technical issues and limitations.

Which is why I maintain the only reason Nintendo cares, it because people threw the egg on their face. And now they are stomping it with their full might out of that humiliation. Sure there are business gains from doing so, but that's secondary to their pride.