Palworld developer Pocket Pair is currently in talks to bring the game to PlayStation and Nintendo platforms, and the studio is open to acquisition.
Speaking during an interview with Bloomberg, Palworld producer and Pocket Pair CEO Takuro Mizobe shared that the developer is currently in talks to bring the game to more platforms, which essentially implies PlayStation and Nintendo consoles, as it is already available on both PC and Xbox. Shuhei Yoshida, Head of Independent Developer Initiative at Sony Interactive Entertainment, had already hinted at this possibility a few months ago.
Mizobe also reveled that Pocket Pair is open to considering offers for partnership or acquisition. Though, he clarified that the studio isn’t currently engaged in acquisition talks with Microsoft, however. He mentioned that he aims for Pocket Pair to remain a small studio. He expressed that he wants to make multiple small-scales games, as big budget AAA games are not for him and the development team. He sees small studios as the primary innovators in game design.
The Pocket Pair CEO is also the sole owner of the studio, and he doesn’t plan on offering shares in the company on publicly traded markets. He also doesn’t plan on expanding to bigger offices and hiring more staff. While Mizobe doesn’t expect the studio’s next game to be as big a success as Palworld, he believes the key to successful games is the ability to play with friends.
As per Mizobe, a game without a multiplayer mode just doesn’t feel right in the current era. Indeed, the ability to play online with friends is a major selling point for Palworld. However, the lack of crossplay support between the Steam and Xbox versions goes against this idea. The studio is currently working to make this a possibility as soon as possible. The ideal scenario would be for crossplay functionality to be in place ahead of the game’s launch on PlayStation and Nintendo consoles.