Pocketpair CEO is torn on whether to turn Palworld into a live service game

The CEO of Palworld developer Pocketpair says he’s not yet sure whether to take the game free-to-play and turn it into a live service game over time.

In an interview with ASCII.jp, Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe was asked about long-term plans for the future of Palworld.

Mizobe replied “to be honest, things aren’t decided yet”, going on to explain that while a shift to a live-service model would be beneficial for the business, the work involved in making that transition may not be worth it.

“When you think about it from a business perspective, making it a live-service game would extend its lifespan and make it more stable in terms of profitability,” Mizobe said (as translated by Automaton).

“However, the game was not initially designed with that approach in mind, so there would be many challenges involved in taking it down the live-service path.”

Mizobe also pointed out that the switch to a live service model would almost certain mean a switch to free-to-play as well, which would add further complications given millions of players have already bought it on Steam for $29.99 / £24.99.

“It is common for live-service games to be free-to-play with paid elements such as skins and battle passes, but Palworld is a buy-to-play game, so it’s difficult to turn it into a live-service game from the ground up,” he explained.

Citing PUBG and Fall Guys as examples of games that successfully shifted to free-to-play, Mizobe noted that both games “took several years to make the shift” and that “it’s not that easy”.

Released in January via Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview, Palworld attracted 25 million players in its first month, according to developer Pocketpair.

Earlier this week, a list of titles set to appear to Tokyo Game Show appeared to include a PS5 version of Palworld.

While the listing could be a mistake, in a message published on X in June, Palworld’s community manager seeminglyteased plans for a PS5 version of the game.