At the start of 2024, the year kicked off strong with the release of PocketPair’s Palworld. While the approach of ‘Pokémon with guns’ did stick with first impressions of the game, the release on Xbox Game Pass & PC revealed a new phenomenon was here. In its first month, the game generated over 25 million players across both platforms including over a billion hours played as well.

However, like many live-service titles, the game did face a drop off of retention once the initial wave cooled down. By April, that number initially held by Palworld was only a fraction of its initial milestone. However, things could be shaping up for more players soon. In what appeared to be a cryptic message from the developer, Palworld could soon be welcoming PlayStation users.

Now in a new development brought by the attention of PocketPair, the developer confirms that Palworld will not be entertaining a free-to-play release in the future. It made this clear in a post tread on X.

“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 post reveals on the matter.

“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.” In a recent finding by Gematsu, Tokyo Game Show listing from CESA did mark Palworld as a PlayStation 5 title, so more platforms could be on the horizon alongside content.

Are you in favor of this decision from PocketPair?

Palworld is currently available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.