Pokémon with guns? All the latest on viral gaming hit Palworld – The Verge

Palworld is getting a farming spinoff

2025-09-22T21:39:47-04:00

A screenshot of Palworld: Palfarm.

Palworld won't hit 1.0 until next year, but developer Pocketpair is already announcing a farming spinoff: Palworld: Palfarm.

Basically, it sounds like the Palworld version of farming simulator games like Stardew Valley. "Each Pal will lend a hand in farm work by making use of their unique abilities," Pocketpair says in a press release. "From sowing seeds and watering to harvesting, Pals make for reliable partners. Deepen your relationships with the island residents and Pals through daily conversation and gift-giving, and you may discover unexpected, special stories unfolding." You'll also have to defend your farm from "some nasty Pals that …

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Palworld had to remove game features because of Nintendo lawsuit

2025-05-08T09:11:35-04:00

Palworld.

The ongoing lawsuit between Nintendo and Palworld developer Pocketpair has forced the studio to make some changes to its Pokémon-like game. In a new blog post, Pocketpair explained that a patch in November removed certain gameplay features, and that an upcoming update will cull even more. "We have had to make certain compromises in order to avoid disruptions to the development and distribution of Palworld," the studio says.

This started with a patch on November 30th, which most notably removed the ability to summon creatures by throwing a "Pal Sphere," which is reminiscent of summoning pokémon with a Poké Ball. The studio adds that other ch …

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Pocketpair follows Palworld’s success with new indie publishing label

2025-01-23T12:16:31-05:00

Pocketpair is getting into the games publishing business. The company has announced that it's taking the gobs of money it made after launching Palworld, the Steam-record busting, 15-million-copies-sold-in-its-first-month, monster-catching adventure game, to establish Pocketpair Publishing.

"Pocketpair Publishing provides comprehensive support for game development through funding, development assistance, and publishing for indie game developers and small studios," Pocketpair wrote in its press release.

We don't even have to wait long for the company's first game. Pocketpair Publishing has teamed up with Tales of Kenzera: Zau developer Surge …

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Palworld’s new island will be its ‘largest’ and ‘harshest’

2024-11-28T12:43:31-05:00

Pocketpair isn't letting a major lawsuit slow it down. The developer has announced that its Pokémon-like hit Palworld is getting a big update in December, which will add a new island to the game. It's described as the "largest, harshest, and most mysterious" location in the game, measuring around six times the size of Sakurajima, an island that was added in a summer update.

Aside from the new location, there aren't many other details about the forthcoming update. But the announcement comes amid a surge in news for the game, which became a viral sensation at the beginning of 2024. In 2025, Palworld will be getting some kind of crossover with …

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Here are the patents Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are suing Palworld over

2024-11-08T09:56:29-05:00

Palworld developer Pocketpair has revealed the patents at the center of the infringement lawsuit Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed in Japan back in September. Pocketpair has also shared that, in addition to 5 million yen each plus late fees, they're "seeking an injunction against the game and compensation for a portion of the damages incurred between the date of registration of the patents and the date of filing of this lawsuit.

The Pokémon Company cites three Japanese patents, No. 7545191, No. 7493117, and No. 7528390. From the translation of the claims, they appear to describe Pokémon-style activities, with '191 focused on the act of …

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PUBG developer is making Palworld mobile amid Nintendo lawsuit

2024-10-02T15:25:30-04:00

Palworld developer Pocketpair may be facing a lawsuit from Nintendo, but that's not stopping it from pursuing a mobile version of the game. On Wednesday, Krafton - the publisher behind PUBG: Battlegrounds - announced that it acquired the license for Palworld and will optimize it for mobile gaming, as reported earlier by Polygon.

According to a translated version of the post, Krafton says it aims to "faithfully reinterpret" Palworld's "main fun elements to fit the mobile environment." Krafton also created a mobile version of PUBG in 2018, and as The Verge pointed out at the time, it turned out better than expected.

Dubbed "Pokémon with guns …

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Palworld’s PS5 port is on hold indefinitely in Japan

2024-09-24T20:37:00-04:00

Palworld | Screenshot: PlayStation (YouTube)

Sony included the PS5 launch of Palworld as one of its news items during Tuesday evening's State of Play presentation, but it left out a detail. While the game has launched on PlayStation platforms in 68 countries and regions worldwide, Japan is not one of them.

The official Japanese account for the game said on X, according to machine translation, that the release date in Japan "has not yet been decided," without going into detail about the reason. It certainly seems like a reason could be the patent infringement lawsuit Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed against Palworld developer Pocketpair last week, but the tweet didn't confirm thi …

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Palworld developer has no idea why Nintendo’s suing over its Pokémon-like game

2024-09-19T10:51:47-04:00

Pocketpair has responded to the lawsuit filed against it by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. The studio that developed Palworld, the game at the heart of the suit, issued a statement early this morning saying it doesn't know what patents it violated.

"At this moment, we are unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details," the statement read.

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We'll be keeping an eye out for more details on what Nintendo and The Pokemon Company described as Palworld's infringement of "multiple patent rights." #gaming #nintendo #pokemon #techtok
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Nintendo and Pokémon are suing Palworld maker Pocketpair

2024-09-19T05:16:52-04:00

A screenshot from Palworld. | Image: Pocketpair

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair, which makes the game Palworld.

From Nintendo's pres s release:

Nintendo Co., Ltd. (HQ: Kyoto, Minami-ku, Japan; Representative Director and President: Shuntaro Furukawa, "Nintendo" hereafter), together with The Pokémon Company, filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against Pocketpair, Inc. (HQ: 2-10-2 Higashigotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, "Defendant" hereafter) on September 18, 2024.

This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and release …

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Palworld isn’t slowing down, hits 19 million players across Steam and Xbox

2024-01-31T13:37:38-05:00

Surprise viral gaming hit Palworld continues to reach new player milestones. Today, developer Pocketpair announced that the game has sold 12 million copies on Steam and reached 7 million players on Xbox. The Xbox number includes both sales and those who played via Game Pass, but the breakdown between the two isn't clear.

According to Microsoft, though, these numbers make Palworld the biggest third-party (i.e. a game not made by an internal Microsoft studio) launch in Game Pass history. The company says it "recently" reached a "peak of nearly 3 million daily active users on Xbox, making it the most-played game on our platforms at that time." …

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