The CEO of Pocketpair, Takuro Mizobe, has confirmed that the studio is in talks to bring their popular game, Palworld, to other platforms. The open-world creature collecting game has become one of the biggest hits of the year since its launch earlier this year and is available through Steam and Microsoft Xbox Game Pass. Although Mizobe did not confirm which platforms they were in talks with during an interview with Bloomberg, there has been speculation about a possible PlayStation release after PlayStation head of indies, Shuhei Yoshida, responded to a tweet stating that they should support Palworld for a PS5 release.
Mizobe attributed the success of Palworld to the game having a multiplayer mode and explained that games without this feature do not feel right in today’s era. He also mentioned that Pocketpair is currently happy to remain an independent studio but is open to considering acquisition or partnership offers. Mizobe expressed that creating big-budget triple-A games is not something that interests the company and they prefer to focus on producing a series of small games.
The news comes after Xbox recently expanded their gaming library by releasing a handful of previously exclusive games on competing consoles. Titles like Grounded, and Pentiment are now available on Nintendo Switch. Meanwhile, Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves are set to be available on PS5 in the future. Palworld’s popularity has caused some to speculate that Pocketpair may follow in these footsteps and expand their game onto other platforms.
Former CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Shawn Layden, previously expressed that exclusivity could become the “achilles’ heel” of the industry. He suggested that as platforms become established and recognised by the market, the necessity of exclusivity becomes less important. Similarly, Arrowhead Game Studios recently had to deny speculation that they were set to be acquired by Sony, which followed the success of their Helldivers 2 game. In other news, Ubisoft Montpellier has confirmed a post-release roadmap for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, featuring new bosses, stories, and game modes
Read the full article on NME here: Read More