Summary
Last month, Pocketpair’s CEOwas reported to have said that he was “torn"about whether or not to transition the hugely successfulPalworldinto a free-to-play live-service title. The following day, he quashed all rumors,saying it wasn’t going to happen.
Speaking to TheGamer at this year’sTokyo Game Show, Pocketpair community manager Bucky shared the team’s rationale behind this decision, saying that Pocketpair still plans to support the game “for a long time.”
Palworld Was Never A Free-To-Play Title
I asked Bucky why Pocketpair never considered the free-to-play, live-service route for Palworld, given that the game is seemingly so well suited for it.
He told me: “We never envisioned Palworld as a live-service game because we wanted to provide a rich gameplay experience where players can enjoy the game at their own pace. We plan to support the game for a long time, offering new content and updates based on the feedback from our player community. Our goal is to continue evolving and growing the game.”
Our goal is to continue evolving and growing the game.
So, despite apparently not going down the traditional route, although it kind of sounds like it is, Palworld will continue to receive long-term support from its developers.
One recent show of this long-term support was thereveal and release of the game’s PS5 versionat Tokyo Game Show, something which Bucky said had been in the works for a while.
“The PlayStation 5 version was part of our plans from the beginning. However, we prioritized delivering the best experience for players on the initial platforms first, with the strategy of gradually expanding to other platforms. For thePS5version, we aimed to release it at the optimal time to ensure it provided a satisfying experience for players.”
You can readour full Palworld interview here, in which the team details its plans and ideas for the series' future, includingnews on an animeandupdates on any sequel.
Palworld
WHERE TO PLAY
Palworld has been described as Pokemon with guns and well, it’s hard to argue with that. The game is very similar in nature to the Pokemon formula, tasking you with catching and working with monsters called Pals. There are key differences, though. Palworld is rooted in multiplayer, oh, and, unlike Pokemon, its Pals have guns.
