Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld, recently said the studio would not change the game’s business model, assuring its player base that the popular creature-collection experience will “remain buy-to-play and not free-to-play or games-as-a-service”.
The company was forced to clarify the position after a recent interview led some players to believe that the team was considering the adoption of a live-service model.
“We are not changing our game’s business model, it will remain buy-to-play and not f2p or GaaS,” the company said in a statement posted to X/Twitter. “Recently, an article was published in which we discussed the possible future direction of Palworld and ideas for continuing the game for a long time.”
“Palworld was never designed with that model in mind, and it would require too much work to adapt the game at this point,” the statement continued. “Additionally, we are very aware that this just isn’t what our players want, and we always put our players first.
“We are still considering skins and DLC for Palworld in future as a means to support development, but we will discuss this with you all again as we get closer to that point. For now, our priority remains making Palworld the best game possible.”
John “Bucky” Buckley, the community manager for Palworld, recently shared his thoughts on “dead games”, stating that his belief that it isn’t healthy for the industry to have gamers play the same title all the time if it weren’t created with this kind of playstyle in mind.
“If you are still playing Palworld, we love you. If you’re no longer playing Palworld, we still love you, and we hope you’ll come back for round two when you’re ready,” he wrote.
For those who need tips and tricks on how to get ahead in the game, check out our list of Palworld guides.
Palworld is an action-adventure survival game developed by Pocket Pair and released in 2024 in early access for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One.