Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski says Palworld "kinda validates" a rejected pitch he made to Epic

Gears of War creator Cliff «CliffyB» Bleszinski says Palworld's astonishing success «kinda validates» a pitch he'd made to Epic «many years ago».

In a post shared to Twitter/X, Bleszinski said he took the idea of «medieval Pokémon with baby dragons instead» to Epic, but the idea was «rejected at all the major publishers».

To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings Newscast: Will Pokémon take Palworld down?Watch on YouTube

When asked by a curious follower what Epic said when Bleszinski made the pitch, he simply said: «It just… never went anywhere. I wanted to do it on mobile first».

Asked if he would consider reviving the idea in light of Palworld's success, Bleszinski intimated that the decision wasn't down to him as «Epic owns the overall idea»

. https://twitter.com/therealcliffyb/status/1750664763162370061 https://twitter.com/therealcliffyb/status/1750971940171325637

Earlier this week, The Pokémon Company issued a statement confirming it was now «investigating» whether Palworld has infringed its intellectual property rights.

Not that that has dampened enthusiasm for Palworld among players, of course. Yesterday saw Palworld's Steam concurrent numbers pass two million for the first time, making Palworld the second game ever on Steam to do so after PUBG. It also once again broke its own concurrent user record overnight, hitting a new high of 2,033,118 concurrent players.