Pokémon Pokopia has been out for a little bit beneath two weeks, and distinguished fansite Serebii has been racing to doc each Pokémon, habitat, recipe, and secret in Recreation Freak and Omega Pressure’s life sim. However now that the location has accomplished the majority of the work, copycats are scraping the data for their very own use, together with an app that Serebii webmaster Joe Merrick claims has been scraping the location’s info for revenue after he put over 200 hours of labor into taking part in and documenting the sport.
Merrick has posted on his X account a couple of cell app known as Pokopedia, which positions itself as a companion app the place Pokopia gamers can lookup details about monster habitats, specialities, and rather more. Whereas the app designers may have discovered all this info themselves, as Merrick factors out, the app seems to be scraping info from Serebii’s guides, because it appears to replicate a number of the similar omissions the location had whereas Merrick was constructing its database. As an example, the app fails to point that Snivy and Larvesta possess the Litter speciality, which Serebii additionally initially omitted in error.
I by chance left Litter off Snivy and Larvesta a couple of days aog. This app has that very same challenge. All pictures are ripped from my web site or utilizing the HOME pictures (which I used till final week) pic.twitter.com/CpOMFP8ff4
— Joe Merrick (@JoeMerrick) March 16, 2026
Pokopedia has been shared by some distinguished Pokémon creators who both don’t appear to concentrate on the accusations being made in opposition to the app developer or don’t care about Serebii’s claims. Merrick says that he has skilled this sort of theft earlier than throughout different Pokémon sport launches, however Pokopia’s virality has precipitated it to unfold rather more rapidly than normal.
That is so exhausting. Prefer it occurs right here and there with prior launches however on account of how Pokopia has gone loopy viral, it is taking place in such quantity.
With 200 hours work behind me on it, seeing my work simply lifted and, within the case of the app, getting used to generate income…it hurts.
— Joe Merrick (@JoeMerrick) March 16, 2026
The app, which incorporates an choice to make a one-time $8.99 buy to take away advertisements, is made by developer Hugo Duarte, who additionally made an analogous app for Stardew Valley. Duarte has eliminated any point out of Pokopedia on his X account, however we’ve got reached out to him for touch upon the scenario and can replace the story if we hear again.
Replace: 3/17/26, 10:06 a.m. ET: In an announcement to Kotaku, Duarte says he used info from publicly obtainable sources comparable to Serebii to replace the app, and is working so as to add a supply attribution throughout the app. He additionally notes that the response has escalated past criticism to “coordinated harassment,” which is why he’s chosen to step away from scenario. The complete assertion is as follows:
Pokopedia is a companion app I constructed as a solo developer. I began engaged on it nicely earlier than the sport’s launch, utilizing info gathered from trailers and official information. I received the sport on day one and commenced including knowledge I collected myself. In some unspecified time in the future there was simply an excessive amount of knowledge for one particular person to cowl, so I began utilizing different publicly obtainable neighborhood sources, Serebii amongst them. When a trusted supply incorporates an error, that error can naturally carry over, which is what occurred right here.
I’ve lots of respect for the work Joe Merrick has put into Serebii and I’m open to a direct dialog with him to deal with his issues. I’m at present engaged on including correct supply attribution throughout the app.
I’d additionally like to notice that the response to this case has gone nicely past honest criticism. I’ve acquired coordinated harassment, which is why I’ve determined to step away from the scenario for now.
