It has been exactly two years since Pocketpair released their creature-catching survival game, Palworld, and the title took the internet by storm. The game made a huge splash right from the start, becoming a massive hit with players all over the world.
When the game first launched in early access on January 19, 2024, it achieved something incredible. It became only the second game in history to have more than two million people playing it at the same time on Steam. The first game to do that was the popular battle royale game PUBG. Palworld’s popularity wasn’t just on computers, though. On the Xbox console, the number of players in the United States even surpassed the numbers for the very famous game Fortnite during that same month.
Despite this incredible success and the huge number of people playing, the game also received a lot of criticism. Many people online gave the game the nickname ‘Pokémon with guns’ and used that name to attack the studio and its creation. Now that two years have passed, the studio has had time to think about the experience. We asked what the most important lesson they learned during these last 24 months.
John ‘Bucky’ Buckley, who is the head of publishing and communications at Pocketpair, shared his thoughts. He said, “It’s crazy thinking back to the initial release of Palworld, because it honestly feels like another lifetime ago.” He explained that the team feels very lucky about the whole experience. The fans continue to amaze the developers every day with their passion for the game.
Bucky admitted that there is a lot to talk about when looking back at the last two years. However, he said that the most important thing he learned is how vital it is to be open and honest with the people playing the game. He understands that this approach does not work for every single game out there. Some games might not be able to share as much information as they would like. But for Pocketpair, the team discovered early on that being open and talking to players makes a big difference. The more they communicated, the more the players understood what the team was trying to do.
Bucky explained, “Palworld is a game made by us, but it’s also made by our players.” The team takes a lot of feedback from the community. Many of the updates and new features added to the game over the last two years happened because the players asked for them. The developers listened to what the fans wanted and worked hard to make those ideas a reality.
Even with all this success, Bucky admits that things have not always been easy for the studio. Palworld is lucky to have a very large and active community. But having so many fans also means there are many people who like to argue and criticize. Bucky said, “I’m not talking about people who just don’t like Palworld, that’s fair enough.” He explained that, like with every popular game, there is a group of people who seem to make it their job to complain about the game as often as possible.
He added that, naturally, these people do not really have a big impact on the game’s success. However, the people at the studio are only human. Because of this, there are times when even they can get caught up in the negativity. It can be difficult to ignore the loud voices of criticism.
Learning to ignore the drama and focus on the community is something Bucky still struggles with today. But he said, “I’d like to think I’m getting better at it!” The team is working hard to stay positive and keep their attention on the players who love the game.
Looking toward the future, the full version of Palworld, known as version 1.0, is scheduled to be released later this year. Bucky finished by saying, “We have a lot of other fun things planned.” He promised that the team will keep working hard to make Palworld into something special that fans can enjoy for a long time to come.
Players can get a look at some of the new creatures coming to the game in a video teaser. Along with the full release of Palworld, Pocketpair is also working on an official card game in partnership with Bushiroad. This card game is set to come out on July 30 and is designed as a competitive game for two players.
If you are playing Palworld right now and feeling a little overwhelmed by all the things you need to do, there are guides available to help. For example, there are guides that explain how to breed creatures and how to get the cake needed for breeding, which can help you get started on the right track.
