Palworld Free To Play Talks Shut Down, Devs Confirm It "Will Remain Buy-to-Play"

Palworld developer Pocketpair has firmly dismissed any speculation about shifting the game to a Free to Play (F2P) or Games-as-a-Service (GaaS) model. This clarification comes after reports surfaced about the studio's discussions on the future of the popular creature-catcher survival game.

Palworld Not Changing to Free-to-Play (F2P) Model

Palworld DLC and Skins Being Considered to Support Development

"Regarding the Future of Palworld TL;DR – We are not changing our game’s business model, it will remain buy-to-play and not f2p or GaaS," the Palworld team announced via a statement on Twitter (X) recently. This was in response to reports suggesting that Pocketpair was considering transitioning the game to a live service and F2P model.

Pocketpair further elaborated that they "are still discussing" the "best way forward" for Palworld, following an interview with ASCII Japan that highlighted various potential directions for the game. "At that time, we were still considering the best way forward for Palworld to create a long-lasting game that continues to grow," their statement continued. "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."

The studio emphasized their commitment to their player base, stating, "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."

Pocketpair remains dedicated to enhancing Palworld to its fullest potential and apologized for any confusion caused by the earlier reports. "We apologize for any concern this may have caused, and we hope this clarifies our position. Thank you for your continued support of Palworld," they concluded.

Last week, Palworld CEO Takuro Mizobe shared future plans for the game in an interview with ASCII Japan. However, Pocketpair clarified that the interview "was conducted several months ago." Mizobe had promised updates including new Pals and raid bosses. In their recent statement on Twitter (X), the studio mentioned they are "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."

In other news, a PS5 version of Palworld was reportedly listed for potential announcement at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show 2024 (TGS 2024). This information was spotted by news site Gematsu in a list published by Japan’s Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA), though they noted it should not be considered "by any means definitive" of upcoming announcements.