Palworld dev says the indie scene is going to see more Palworld-level hits as small creators learn to meet player needs that big companies are neglecting 

PocketPair rocked the global indie scene this year with their record-breaking launch of Palworld. Despite their commercial success allowing them to take things even “further than AAA,” the company intends to keep their development on an indie scale. In an interview recently published by ASCII Japan, PocketPair’s CEO Takuro Mizobe shared his views on indie games and what he considers will be the deciding factors for future breakout hits in the indie scene. 

Based on his day-to-day encounters with new and innovative indie games, Mizobe says he can see the indie game scene growing even more in the next 5 to 10 years, with other big indie hits on the same level as Palworld appearing. One of the main factors that will determine future hits, according to PocketPair’s CEO, is indie developers doing things that big companies cannot.  

“The indie market is comprised of various genres. If we take a look at Steam, there are 48 categories in total. Some of the bigger ones in there are the Survival Craft genre, and the Roguelike and Roguelite genres. The Metroidvania genre is gaining momentum too.  Among such indie genres, many are too low return for big companies to dabble in, making them unlikely to produce such games. The survival craft genre, which PocketPair is currently working on, is hard for large companies to enter. I think indie studios will benefit from having a go at making games in genres like these.” 

In other words, indie creators should target the in-demand genres that the big studios are neglecting. This ties into another point that Mizobe brings up- market analysis. The Palworld developer thinks that indie games have become much more commercialized, with many creators no longer making games based solely on personal preferences. Nowadays, more indie developers are analyzing the market to figure out what people want, i.e. what kind of games will sell. 

“In a way, we are like that too,” Mizobe says about Pocket Pair. “We want as many people as possible to play our games, so we analyze the market and base our game development on that.” The creator predicts that the indie scene will see an increase in commercial indie creators who are good at market analysis. “If this leads to the creation of games that meet players’ needs, I personally think that this is a good thing.” 

As an aside, Mizobe has previously commented that he considers small studios to be “pioneers in game design,” Although PocketPair has grown considerably alongside Palworld, the developer seems keen to remain on the indie-side of things. After all, as a small-scale game from a modest company, Palworld was able to take risks, unconstrained by many of the limitations that bind big developers. This is likely what contributed to the game being received so well by players.