Palworld's CEO Vows Independence: 'No Acquisition Allowed'

Last summer, the developer of Palworld, Pocketpair, entered into a significant partnership with Sony Music Entertainment. This collaboration aimed to expand the Palworld universe beyond video games into the realms of merchandise, music, and other products. Despite this being purely a business agreement, it sparked widespread speculation among fans that an acquisition might be on the horizon. This speculation was fueled further by earlier rumors suggesting that Pocketpair had been in discussions with Microsoft regarding a potential acquisition.

However, Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe later clarified that these acquisition rumors were unfounded at the time, yet they ignited a flurry of discussions within the gaming community. Since then, the conversation has continued, especially given Microsoft's aggressive acquisition strategy in the AA gaming sector and their apparent interest in Japanese developers, alongside Sony's own series of acquisitions.

The question remains: will Pocketpair ever be acquired? The decision ultimately lies with Mizobe. At the recent Game Developers Conference, I had the opportunity to speak with Pocketpair's communications director and publishing manager, John 'Bucky' Buckley, about this very topic. Buckley expressed a strong belief that an acquisition is highly unlikely, emphasizing Mizobe's preference for independence and autonomy.

"Our CEO would never allow it," Buckley stated firmly. "He likes doing his own thing and being his own boss. He doesn't like people telling him what to do."

Buckley's conviction on this matter was clear. He added, "So I would be shocked. Maybe when he's old, and he might just sell it off for money. And that would be sad, but in my lifetime, I probably won't see it. No, it'll be interesting to see where the two paths go. We, Pocketpair, are obviously only involved in where the game path is going. Palworld as an IP, we are involved, but it’s very much in the hands of Aniplex and Sony Music who are steering that ship right now. We are just offering our advice and thoughts as they take that."

During our conversation, Buckley and I also delved into other topics such as the possibility of Palworld being released on the Nintendo Switch 2, the studio's reaction to the game being dubbed "Pokemon with guns," and more. You can explore the full interview [ttpp]here[ttpp].