One of the biggest surprises this year is the smashing success of Palworld, from a little developer named Pocketpair. The game–known as “Pokemon with guns”–has seen a lot of Xbox marketing because of its inclusion on Game Pass, but that doesn’t mean Microsoft is eyeing to acquire the studio. In fact, Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe says no discussions have even taken place with the company.
Bloomberg talked to Mizobe about Pocketpair possibly being purchased or even partnering up with other companies. While the Pocketpair founder is open to these ideas, he said formal talks aren’t happening. Instead, Pocketpair is focusing on staying small–the developer has 55 employees–and exploring new platforms for Palworld. PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch would be the most obvious destinations, but no specifics were given.
“We are and will remain a small studio,” Mizobe said. “I want to make multiple small games. Big-budget, AAA games are not for us.” In fact, Mizobe revealed that Palworld cost under $6.7 million to make, which is a fraction of the reported budgets for games like The Last of Us Part II and Horizon Forbidden West.
Palworld reached 25 million players in just one month. Steam copies accounted for 15 million, meaning those people bought the game for $30. Palworld also surpassed 2 million concurrent players on Steam, becoming only the second game ever to hit that impressive milestone.
Looking ahead, Mizobe realizes Pocketpair might never see another one of its games reaching the popularity of Palworld. But the CEO believes the developer must stick to one principle going forward. “Games are most fun when playing with friends,” Mizobe said. “A game without a multiplayer mode just doesn’t feel right in the era we live today.”
For more, check out GameSpot’s Palworld guides hub.
