Palworld developer Pocketpair has stated the survival crafting recreation dubbed “Pokémon with weapons” is not going free-to-play regardless of feedback from CEO Takuro Mizobe suggesting such a transfer was underneath dialogue.
Pocketpair stated on X/Twitter that the feedback — with Mizobe saying that “making [Palworld] a dwell service recreation would prolong its lifespan and make it extra secure — had been really made months in the past when the studio was contemplating totally different choices. It has now determined definitively that Palworld will stay a pay-up-front recreation.
“This interview was carried out a number of months in the past,” Palworld stated. “At the moment, we had been nonetheless contemplating one of the best ways ahead for Palworld to create an enduring recreation that continues to develop. We’re nonetheless discussing this internally, as it’s fairly difficult to seek out the best path, however we’ve already determined that the free to play or video games as a service method will not be appropriate for us.
“Palworld was by no means designed with that mannequin in thoughts, and it might require an excessive amount of work to adapt the sport at this level. Moreover, we’re very conscious that this simply is not what our gamers need, and we at all times put our gamers first.”
Pocketpair stated it’s nonetheless contemplating dwell service components like including skins and different further content material to Palworld sooner or later however it’ll talk about this with gamers if and when the time comes.
“We apologize for any concern this will have brought on, and we hope this clarifies our place,” Pocketpair concluded with. “Thanks on your continued assist of Palworld.”
Palworld arrived in January 2024 and was prompt hit regardless of complaints it was copying Pokémon in a number of of its monster designs.
It had reached greater than 19 million gamers by the tip of the month, having launched on Steam and Xbox the place it went straight into Recreation Move. And although a lot of its gamers may have arrived by way of Microsoft’s subscription service, Pocketpair made clear its numbers weren’t a fluke by asserting Palworld had offered 15 million copies on Steam after a month of sale.
In our 8/10 evaluation, IGN stated: “Palworld might crib fairly a bit from Pokémon’s homework, however deep survival mechanics and a hilarious angle make it laborious to place down, even in Early Entry.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll discuss The Witcher all day.