Look, we live in a society (I regret nothing!) where we compare just about everything possible…to everything possible. The video game space is no different on that front, as we compare all manner of titles to each other because of visuals, genres, gameplay styles, stories, and everything in between. When Palworld was first announced, a “label’ was soon a part of it that was soon rather hard to share. That label being “It’s Pokemon…but with guns!” That created plenty of controversy in the gaming space, and yet, when the title released on Xbox and PC, it was a huge hit.
However, the team at Pocket Pair apparently doesn’t have much fondness for that labeling. IGN talked with communications director and publishing manager John Buckley and he explained why that was the case:
“We revealed the game to the world in June of 2021, so quite a few years ago. We posted a trailer at what’s called Indie Live Expo, which is an indie gaming event in Japan. We showed this off to the Japanese audience initially, we had a really, really good reception. But very quickly, Western media got eyes on this little game, and we were very quickly branded, as early as 2021, as a ‘certain franchise’ plus guns. This would be something that has stuck with us to this very day, despite our best efforts to shake that off.”
There are many ways to take that, but the fact of the matter is that the team went in a very Pokémon-esque direction with Palworld, including catching “Pals,” having them do battles, breeding them, and so on. It would’ve been impossible NOT to make that comparison, and just as important, that “label” definitely led to its success.
We won’t even mention how many its “Pals” emphatically copy Pokemon designs…so…
