Palworld developer to remain a small studio, details first raid

eurogamer.net:

Palworld developer Pocketpair will remain a small studio, despite the success of its «Pokémon with guns» survival game.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Pocketpair founder and exec Takuro Mizobe said the developer "[is] and will remain a small studio". «I want to make multiple small games,» he added, «big budget triple-A games are not for us.»

The company isn't planning on increasing its headcount to a large degree (although it did put out a call for developers to help fill its overwhelming need of staff in February), Mizobe revealed, and is open to considering partnership or acquisition offers.

Mizobe also stated Pocketpair is in talks to bring Palworld to other platforms. Though it's currently only available on Steam and Xbox, in January Playstation head of indies Shuhei Yoshida suggested it was looking to get Palworld on PlayStation.

Meanwhile, Pocketpair has revealed information on the next update to Palworld which will include the game's first raid boss. The new «powerful evil» Pal is called Bellanoir, and it's embracing the recent emo renaissance. It doesn't remind me of a particular Pokémon design off the bat, though its concept looks like a mash-up of Gothitelle (who is more Wednesday Addams/Celesetia from Danganronpa than Bellanoir) and Mega Gardevoir (with that silhouette? And that sweeping hairstyle?).

Pocketpair has also promised more fixes and anti-cheat measures. Palworld players have suffered from the impact of cheaters since launch, and last month Pocketpair admitted it was struggling to keep up with the number of cheating-related cases.

You don't have to be a developer to help Pocketpair work on Palworld. The studio recently opened applications for a Palworld closed testing program, but it has warned applicants should not expect to use it for «free play or experiencing new content early».