Palworld dev confirms game is not going F2P or live-service

Developer Pocket Pair has addressed concerns from fans regarding the business model of Palworld. They have confirmed that the game will remain buy-to-play and not transition to a free-to-play or games-as-a-service model.

The clarification comes in response to an interview that sparked speculation about potential changes to the game’s model. The interview, originally hosted by Japanese outlet ASCII Japan and translated by Automaton Media, led to misunderstandings about the game’s future direction.

Following the publication of the translated article on the Palworld subreddit, Pocket Pair felt the need to publicly affirm their commitment to the current business model. They emphasized that the game was not designed with a free-to-play or live-service approach in mind.

Despite ongoing discussions within the development team about ways to support the game’s growth, Pocket Pair assured players that their priority is to make Palworld the best game possible. They also mentioned the possibility of introducing skins and DLC in the future to support development.

Palworld was initially released in January 2024 for Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S, and is also available on Xbox Game Pass.

Here is an excerpt from Pocket Pair’s statement:

“We are not changing our game’s business model, it will remain buy-to-play and not free-to-play or games-as-a-service. Recently, an article was published in which we discussed the possible future direction of Palworld and ideas for continuing the game for a long time.

In fact, this interview was conducted several months ago. At that time, we were still considering the best way forward for Palworld to create a long-lasting game that continues to grow. We are still discussing this internally, as it is quite challenging to find the ideal path, but we have already decided that the F2P/GaaS approach is not suitable for us.

Palworld was never designed with that model in mind, and it would require too much work to adapt the game at this point. Additionally, we are very aware that this just isn’t what our players want, and we always put our players first.

We are still considering skins and DLC for Palworld in future as a means to support development, but we will discuss this with you all again as we get closer to that point. For now, our priority remains making Palworld the best game possible.

We apologize for any concern this may have caused, and we hope this clarifies our position. Thank you for your continued support of Palworld.”