Pal World developer Pocket pair said the game will not transition to free-to-play.
Last week, translated comments came to light from CEO Takuro Mizobe, where he spoke about the future of the game. At the time, he stated that the studio was debating whether or not to switch to a free-to-play, live service model.
Many games released as a paid title and then converted to a free game years later. It can revitalize a game’s community and open up more revenue opportunities.
Pal World it simply wasn’t designed with the free-to-play model in mind
During the interview, Mizobe noted that a change would help “extend[[Palworld]lifespan and make it more stable in terms of profitability.” At the same time, he acknowledged how it wasn’t built with free-to-play in mind, and changing the model could be a challenge in itself.
Pocket pair has now clarified that the interview was conducted “months ago” and is firmly determined not to play for free.
“Pal World was never designed with that model in mind and would require a lot of work to adapt at this point,” he explained. More bluntly, the developer also stated that he knows “it’s just not what our players want.”
However, Pocketpair added that it is still exploring paid DLC and in-game skins to help support the game. At the moment, nothing is concrete and it continues to discuss how to move forward.
“We apologize for any concern this may have caused,” Pocketpair concluded, “and hope this clarifies our position.”
About the author
Contributing Editor, GameDeveloper.com
A Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for a variety of sites, including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to being a game developer, his writing can be found at io9 and Gizmodo. Don’t ask him how much gum he’s eaten, because the answer will be more than he’s willing to admit.
