Palworld will not evolve to become free-to-play or live service (GaaS) in future, according to a statement from developer, Pocketpair. Going forward, the game will keep the same business model, and it will “remain buy-to-play and not f2p or GaaS.”
The statement has been made as clarification of an Automaton interview delivered by Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe, where he briefly speculated that making the game live service would “extend its lifespan and make it more stable, in terms of profitability.”
Fans of the game seemingly misinterpreted this speculation, and fears around Palworld‘s future grew. But as Pocketpair has now made clear, there are no plans to change the game to a new model. Mizobe was simply commenting that live service could extend the game, in theory.
“This interview was conducted several months ago. At that time, we were still considering the best way forward for Palworld to create a long-lasting game that continues to grow,” Pocketpair said on Twitter/X. “We are still discussing this internally, as it is quite challenging to find the ideal path, but we have already decided that the F2P/GaaS approach is not suitable for us.”
Read: Palworld developer Pocketpair wants to stay small
Pocketpair has explained that while the topic was discussed, the reality is Palworld was not designed to be a live service game, and it would require too much work to adapt the game to this model. In addition, the studio has acknowledged that players do not want this change, and it always wants to “put [its] players first.”
To allow the game to continue running, additional features like skins and DLC content will be released for Palworld, but Pocketpair will provide updates in due time. For now, the developer has committed to staying the course, and providing welcome new content for players still jumping in to catch, befriend, and use their Pals.
“For now, our priority remains making Palworld the best game possible,” Pocketpair said. “We apologise for any concern this [interview] may have caused, and we hope this clarifies our position. Thank you for your continued support of Palworld.”
Those keen to hear more about the game should stay tuned, as Pocketpair continues to work on new DLC and updates for the monster-catching adventure.
