Bloomberg has published a new piece on Palworld – the survival crafting, creature-collecting game that absolutely lit up the charts on Xbox and PC when it launched in early access back in January and went on to reach over 25 million players – after speaking with Takuro Mizobe, the CEO of developer Pocketpair.
Speaking to journalist Takashi Mochizuki, Mizobe reveals some interesting behind-the-scenes bits around the game, including a development budget of less than $6.7 million USD and a team of around 55 developers in total having worked on the game at the Tokyo-based studio.
The CEO spoke to Bloomberg about the inspirations behind some of Palworld’s “quirkier” ideas that ultimately contribute to its viral success, like the way it very blatantly mashes together a number of different popular genres or its less delicate treatment of the whole Pokémon-esque deal of monster catching and rearing.
This year’s biggest independent game sensation, Palworld, was crafted from the outset to be a conversation starter, its creator says https://t.co/AaiCI8NpYq
— Bloomberg (@business) March 15, 2024
More interestingly, in the article Mochizuki also writes that Pocketpair is “in talks” to bring the game more platforms beyond Steam and Game Pass, without divulging anything more specific than that. Whether or not it means that we might see the game arrive on PlayStation or Switch consoles, which typically don’t deal in “early access” titles, or if it simply points to wider availability on PC storefronts remains to be seen.
The studio is apparently open to consider offers of partnership or acquisition, though it has confirmed it’s not in talks with Microsoft around the idea. Either way, and despite the success of Palworld, Mizobe also says that Pocketpair is content to remain a small, independent studio for now.
“We are and will remain a small studio,” he told the outlet. “I want to make multiple small games. Big-budget triple-A games are not for us.”
You can find Palworld on Steam here or Game Pass here.
