Seven-year-old video showing Pokémon Call of Duty mod pulled from YouTube

YouTube has removed a seven-year-old YouTube video that featured Pokémon modded into Call of Duty: Zombies, at the request of The Pokémon Company.

As spotted by IGNcontent creator NoahJ456 revealed they had received a takedown notice from YouTube, due to the modded content.

“WARNING TO ALL CONTENT CREATORS! If your videos feature any sort of modded Pokémon content, I would delete/unlist it ASAP,” the YouTuber wrote, adding that their channel will be delisted if they get two more strikes.

In a follow-up comment, NoahJ456 acknowledged The Pokémon Company was “technically within their rights to take this down”, stating “unless they have a change of heart (lol) the strike will stay.”

The Pokémon Company has repeatedly been in the headlines more recently for its keen legal eye, in particular following the arrival of Palworld – or 'Pokémon with guns', as the internet dubbed it. Back in January, and soon after Palworld released in early access, YouTuber ToastedShoes made a Palworld Pokémon mod that was swiftly removed by The Pokémon Company.

Sharing an article regarding NoahJ456's recent post, ToastedShoes admitted they now feel “responsible” for their fellow YouTuber's recent video strike.

“After the heat of Nintendo taking down my Palworld video I did a COD Zombies Pokemon video. My mindset was they wouldn't take my video down since Noah and many others had made content on it in the past few years,” ToastedShoes wrote. “However, they still took action.”

ToastedShoes said they didn't expect their own actions to lead to a “chain reaction” of The Pokémon Company punishing other creators. “I am truly sorry that me being reckless may have played some part… Crazy that it took a month to go after everyone else but it seems they now have their sights set on other creators.”

The Pokémon Company issued a rare statement on Pokémon game clones that indirectly addressed Palworld, after claims the latter had directly copied its designs. Additionally, The Pokémon Company's former chief legal officer Don McGowan said he was “surprised” Palworld had “got this far.”

Meanwhile, Nexus Mods said it would not host any further Palworld Pokémon mods, as doing so would “almost certainly… put us at risk of legal action.”

That being said, one Palworld player has modded unused Pals back into the game, including the previously discovered Mewtwo dead ringer. At the time of writing, this mod is still available.