The “Pokemon like weapons,” Palworld, is a huge success. But the studio is keeping a cool head and warning players about what to expect next.
While Pokemon Scarlet & Violet still regularly offers free Pokémon, its “competitor” Palworld goes its own way. This version, slightly less aimed at children due to the presence of firearms, has often been compared and even accused of plagiarism with massive use of AI. But these controversies have obviously not gone beyond the scope of the Internet, since the game is a huge success. In 72 hours, more than 5 million copies of this powerful Pokémon substitute were sold. Yet despite the game’s success, the studio calms players’ expectations before they ignite.
Towards a very big budget Palworld 2?
Palworld has been killing it since its release on PC (Steam), Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox Game Pass. With its launch on Microsoft’s subscription service, the Pocketpair title even became the biggest success for a third-party game. Normally, with such a hit, the studio’s ambitions could skyrocket. “We first developed Overdungeon, which worked well, then Craftopia, which also worked well. And so we used the profit to design Palworld.” said Takuro Mizobe, CEO of Pocketpair. If we follow the logic, the winnings could allow us to play with an XXL budget, right? So yes, but that won’t be the case.
« Palworld’s revenue is in the tens of billions of yen. If we were to develop a game based on that, as we have done in the past, it would be a huge production. It would go beyond a AAA title »And if Pocketpair doesn’t want to burn the candle at both ends, it’s because they believe they lack the structure to do crazy things. « We as an organization are not yet ready to play such a game. Also, if you ask us if there are any games we would want to produce with such a big budget, the answer is no..
Heading towards a smaller budget Palworld 2? It will be the chef’s surprise. “As an independent game studio, we want to work on things that we think are interesting. While it’s good to have a big budget, we can’t spend a budget that exceeds our means.”To see the bigger picture, Pocketpair would need to increase its workforce and change its production method somewhat.
