Palworld: An adventure beyond AAA standards

Palworld's massive financial success could propel devs Pocketair's next game to “beyond AAA” status, however CEO Takuro Mizobe has explained a different direction that the studio has taken. Read on to learn more about his comments.

Palworld Profits Could Make Pocketpair Go 'Beyond AAA' If They WantedPocketpair Interested in Indie Games and Giving Back to Community

Creature-catch survival game sensation Palworld has been immensely remarkable for its developer, Pocketpair, with profits soaring significantly that the studio's next game could potentially surpass "AAA," aka high-profile, high-budget games, standards. However, Pocketpair's CEO, Takuro Mizobe, has expressed, yet again, a distinct lack of interest in pursuing such endeavors.

In a recent interview with GameSpark, Mizobe disclosed that Palworld's sales are in "the tens of billions of yen." To put this into perspective, 10 billion Japanese Yen is approximately 68.57 million USD. Despite the substantial profits, he believed that Pocketpair is not equipped to handle the scale of a game that would use all the proceeds from Palworld.

Mizobe revealed that Palworld was developed using the proceeds from Pocketpair's previous games, Craftopia and Overdungeon. However, this time around with a blockbuster-making budget in the studio's hands, Mizobe decided to not jump at the opportunity, especially at a seemingly premature phase in their company's lifespan.

"If we were to develop our next game based on these proceeds, as we have done in the past, not only would the scale go beyond AAA, but we wouldn’t be able to keep up with this in terms of our organization’s maturity, or better put, we aren’t structured for something like that at all," Mizobe stated. He further noted that he does not foresee any game he would like to make with an enormous budget and prefers to pursue projects that are "interesting as indie games."

The studio aims to see how far they can go while maintaining a smaller, "indie" scale. Mizobe pointed out that the global trends for AAA games have made it increasingly difficult to develop a hit title with a large team. Conversely, the indie gaming scene is booming, with "improved game engines and industry conditions" that enable developers to launch globally successful games without a large-scale operation. Pocketpair's growth, according to Mizobe, can be significantly attirbuted to the indie game community, and the company expressed it wishes to give back to this community.

Palworld to Expand to 'Different Mediums'

Earlier this year, Mizobe had also mentioned that Pocketpair is not interested in expanding its team or upgrading to more luxurious offices, despite money coming in. Instead, they will be focused on diversifying the Palworld IP by venturing into other mediums.

Palworld, still at its early access stages, has already been commended by fans for its engaging gameplay and significant updates since its launch earlier this year. Recent updates include the hotly-anticipated PvP arena mode and a new island in the Sakurajima major update. Additionally, Pocketpair has recently formed Palworld Entertainment in collaboration with Sony to handle global licensing and merchandising activities associated with Palworld outside of the game.