Palworld’s Success Allows PocketPair to Consider AAA, But Studio Chooses to Stay Indie

Palworld has become a massive hit, achieving over 25 million sales just a month after its Early Access release. This success has propelled its developer, PocketPair, into a spotlight that few indie developers ever experience. Despite the enormous profits from Palworld, PocketPair CEO Takuro Mizobe has decided to keep future projects on an indie scale rather than pursuing a larger AAA game.

PocketPair Chooses Indie Path Despite Massive Palworld Profits

In an interview with GameSpark (thanks AUTOMATON), Mizobe revealed that while Palworld’s profits could easily fund a game beyond the AAA scale, the company does not have the structure to handle such a project. He emphasized that the current global trends make it difficult for large teams to guarantee a hit game, whereas smaller indie teams can still produce globally successful games thanks to improvements in game development tools.

Mizobe expressed his preference for pursuing creative and interesting ideas within the indie game framework. He highlighted that PocketPair’s growth has been deeply rooted in the indie game community, and they aim to continue supporting this community.

Palworld’s predecessor, Craftopia, and the earlier game Overdungeon, laid the financial foundation for its development. Despite Palworld’s significant earnings, Mizobe clarified that their organizational maturity is not ready for a large-scale AAA project.

The indie game community has been instrumental in PocketPair’s success, and Mizobe wants to give back by continuing to create innovative indie games.