Pocketpair’s monster-taming survival title Palworld has been a sensation ever since its Early Access launch in 2024, and continues to enjoy popularity among gamers following its recent 1.0 launch. The company has since expanded its horizons, launching its own indie game publishing division called Pocketpair Publishing in January 2025, and Palworld’s own official TCG in August 2026. While the Palworld IP is also set to expand through spin-off games like Palworld: Palfarm and Pal♡world! ~More Than Just Pals~, the developers aren’t necessarily keen on continuing to expand Palworld itself in a live-service fashion.
In a recent interview with MP1st, John “Bucky” Buckley, Pocketpair’s Head of Publishing and Communications, shared the company’s stance on the matter.
When asked why Palworld hasn’t adopted a more metaverse-style format akin to Fortnite (like, for instance, integrating Palfarm into Palworld itself as a new mode), Bucky commented, “I can certainly understand why some people might expect us to take Palworld in that direction, but for us… we just want to make fun games in our own way. I know it sounds a bit cliché, but while we obviously want our games to be successful, maximizing revenue as quickly as possible isn’t what drives our creative decisions.” Over on X, Bucky added, “We could probably turn Palworld into a big live-service game with tons of DLC and MTX, but I don’t think it’s the right way forward for us.”
He presented Palworld: Palfarm as an example of this policy, stating that the team felt some ideas were best kept as standalone titles. Rather than making a farming side mode within Palworld, Pocketpair believes a dedicated farming game has more room to develop its own mechanics and concepts without being constrained by the needs of the main game.
Bucky also offered his own take on how the metaverse format has proven itself well for games such as Fortnite, saying that while he acknowledges that it works well for Epic Games, “We don’t see this as one approach being better than the other,” and concluded that different IPs will naturally adopt different strategies.
In his personal X post promoting the MP1st article, Bucky noted that Pocketpair is not as financially motivated as people may assume, adding that the company is 100% self-owned and self-funded, which means its decision-making process revolves largely around what the devs themselves find fun.
He also reiterated to MP1st that “The main Palworld game remains extremely important to us, and these spin-offs are not intended to replace it. We see them as new ways for players to enjoy the world and characters of Palworld from different perspectives.”
Palworld is out now for PC (Steam/Microsoft Store/Mac App Store), PS5, and Xbox Series X/Xbox One. The game is also available via Game Pass for PC and Xbox. Two spin-off titles, Palworld: Palfarm and Pal♡world! ~More Than Just Pals~ have also been revealed, with release dates TBA.
