When Palworld first debuted way back in January, no one could’ve ever predicted the level of fame it would go on to achieve. The $30 title reached 25 million gamers within its first month and established itself as one of the biggest indie gaming success stories in recent years.
The title’s success has made the developer, Pocketpair, tons of money. However, instead of making a AAA mess like Skull and Bones, the studio’s CEO believes that small indie titles are the way to go.
Palworld CEO Says Pocketpair’s Next Game Won’t be A Big-Budget Affair
In a brand-new interview, Pocketpair’s CEO Takuro Mizobe talked about various topics in the gaming industry, such as the use of AI and other technological advances when it comes to the future of Palworld and other games.
Mizobe was also questioned about his previous comments that Palworld was crafted with the income generation from the studio’s previous game. Upon being asked if the same could happen with the studio’s next game, the CEO stated that the studio isn’t properly “structured” to handle the scale of a game that would be able to utilize Palworld profits.
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.
It’s clear that unlike Ubisoft, which gave us one of the worst games of the decade, Mizobe and his team aren’t interested in such a massive-scale game.
The studio doesn’t have anything it would like to make with such a budget and would prefer to pursue new indie titles.
The studio isn’t done with Palworld either. The game is still in early access, with the developers constantly adding new content to the game. Players even got a whole Island with a PvP arena. Let’s hope the studio can carry this momentum when the game is fully released.
These Developers Love Indie Games
It’s not just the studio’s CEO; even the community manager, John Buckley, has shown love for indie development by asking gamers to spend as much money as they can on indie games. Just like Mizobe, Buckley wants the indie sector to thrive
Mizobe’s take on developing more indie games instead of a big follow-up to ‘Pokemon with Guns’ isn’t something we often see. Most studios tend to want to go bigger and bigger with each subsequent release.
With the hit game, the studio has already proven that it doesn’t need a big budget to produce a hyper-polished experience that could win over millions. The strategy is already working for the devs, so it’s not surprising to see them wanting to stay true to their original vision.
Do you think Palworld needs a massive triple AAA follow-up? Let us know in the comments below.
