Palworld Continues to Break Records, Devs Speak Out

Palworld just broke 7 million in sales since it was released on Friday. To put this in perspective, Pokemon Legends: Arceus. A comparable game in style and genre sold 6.5 million in 1 week. That means in 5 days, an indie game outsold a Pokemon game in the same timeframe. That’s unheard of! Pokemon is the top franchise in the world, and Palworld is a brand-new IP. Comparatively, this is an impressive feat for a small indie company.

Palworld sold 7+ Million in only 5 days. It's selling even faster than Pokémon Legends Arceus which sold 6.5m in 1 week

Sales Trajectory
• 1 Million in 8 Hours
• 2 Million in 24 Hours
• 3 Million in 40 Hours
• 5 Million in 3 Days
• 6 Million in 4 Days
• 7 Million in 5 Days pic.twitter.com/Bbd9eneY7I

— Benji-Sales (@BenjiSales) January 24, 2024

Palworld Just Keeps Breaking Numbers Despite Controversy 

However, the internet is still on fire as to the alleged plagiarism of Pokemon in Palworld. I mentioned in an article before that there is little evidence of AI or copyright violations. However, a modder who did put Pokemon models in Palworld has already been hit. Within a day, Nintendo’s legal team, fearfully dubbed by fans as the “Nintendo Ninjas” erased his mod from existence. This further proves a point that Nintendo most likely won’t be suing Palworld itself, but people who put Pokemon into the game by mods.

Nintendo appear to be copyright striking videos of Pokemon mods for Palworld pic.twitter.com/trNXrYSoFU

— Dexerto (@Dexerto) January 23, 2024

“I just want to make a game people like,” said Mizobe, the CEO of Pocket Pair in an interview with Euronews. When asked about adding the guns, Mizobe mentioned that “Americans like to shoot things,” and for the game to do well worldwide, it needs to do well in America. The option to make wild proportions to the player’s characters was also added to appease an American audience.

“I Just Want to Make a Game People Like,” Says Pocket Pair CEO

The Palworld story is wild.

Dubbed “Pokémon With Guns”, the game has sold 6m+ copies in past 4 days (making its developer Pocket Pair over $100m on a ~$7m budget).

Some details on the game development process:

◻️ CEO Takuro Mizobe worked at JPMorgan Securities before launching… pic.twitter.com/x9PG3UsrhI

— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) January 24, 2024

Mizobe got his start by making a ton of money in crypto, then went on to found Pocket Pair with that money. Palworld got its start on a $10,000 budget. Its 3d models originally were started by a high schooler artist that Mizobe met at a convenience store they frequented. It seems Palworld has very humble beginnings, but this wasn’t their first game. Craftopia, AI: Imposter Artist and Nevergrave were all their previous projects.

Regardless of Pocket Pair’s history, their success further pushes a narrative that indie games are here to stay on the sales charts. Last year’s major successes like Lethal Company, and Sons of the Forest are proof of that. Indie games have more freedom to be what they want, and not worry about investors or profit margins. It’s just someone making a game they think people will like to play. That’s game development in its purest form, and I think that’s awesome.