Palworld Remains Buy-to-Play: Free-to-Play Plans Scrapped

Palworld developer Pocketpair has ceased discussions of transitioning the game to a Free-to-Play (F2P) or Games-as-a-Service (GaaS) model, following reports on the developer deliberating its future plans for the popular creature-catching survival title.

Palworld Maintaining Buy-to-Play ModelPalworld DLC and Skins Under Consideration to Fund Development

"Regarding Palworld's Future: TL;DR – We are not altering our game's business model; it will remain buy-to-play, not F2P or GaaS," the Palworld team declared in a Twitter (X) statement several days ago. This announcement followed reports on developer Pocketpair considering the game's future, revealing exploration of a live service and F2P model among other possibilities.

Pocketpair further clarified that they "are still evaluating" the "optimal approach" for Palworld, after a recent ASCII Japan interview unveiled the developers' ideas on the game's potential trajectory. "At that time, we were still considering the optimal path for Palworld to foster enduring growth," their statement continued. "We are still internally discussing this, as finding the ideal path is challenging, but we have concluded that the F2P/GaaS approach is unsuitable for us."

Moreover, the studio reassured Palworld enthusiasts that they have their best interests at heart: "Palworld was never designed with that model in mind, and it would require too much effort to adapt the game at this point. Additionally, we are very aware that this simply isn't what our players desire, and we always prioritize our players."

The studio stated it remains dedicated to making Palworld "the best game possible," further apologizing for any worry that has arisen from the previous reports of Palworld transitioning to a different business model. "We apologize for any concern this may have caused, and we hope this clarifies our stance. Thank you for your continued support of Palworld," the studio concluded.

As reported last week, Palworld CEO Takuro Mizobe discussed their future plans for Palworld in an interview with ASCII Japan, but the studio has since clarified that the interview "was conducted several months prior." Additionally, Mizobe stated in the aforementioned interview, "Of course, we will update [Palworld] with new content," promising more new Pals as well as raid bosses at the time. The studio mentioned in their recent statement on Twitter (X) that they are "considering skins and DLC for Palworld in the future as a means to support development, but we will discuss this with you all again as we approach that point."

Regarding other game developments, a PS5 version of Palworld was reportedly listed among title announcements for the upcoming Tokyo Game Show 2024 (TGS 2024) event this month. As noted by Gematsu, the list from Japan’s Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) shouldn't be considered definitive.