Palworld developer Pocketpair said the game will not transition to free-to-play.
Last week, translated comments surfaced from CEO Takuro Mizobe, wherein he talked about the game’s future. At the time, he claimed the studio was debating whether or not to change to a live-service, free-to-play model.
Plenty of games have launched as a paid title, then converted into a free game years later. It can revitalize a game’s community and open up more revenue opportunities.
Palworld just wasn’t designed with the free-to-play model in mind
During the interview, Mizobe noted a switch would help “extend [Palworld’s] 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 switching models could be a challenge unto itself.
Pocketpair has now clarified the interview was conducted “months ago,” and it’s firmly settled on not going free-to-play.
“Palworld was never designed with that model in mind, and it would require too much work to adapt at this point,” it explained. More bluntly, the developer also stated it knows that “just isn’t what our players want.”
However, Pocketpair added it was still exploring paid DLC and in-game skins to help support the game. At the moment, nothing is concrete, and it’s continuing to discuss how to move forward.
“We apologize for any concern this may have caused,” Pocketpair concluded, “and we hope this clarifies our position.”