When Pocketpair's monster capturing survival adventure game, Palworld, was released, it quickly drew comparisons to the iconic Pokemon series, with some dubbing it "Pokemon with guns." Despite the nickname not being Pocketpair's favorite, as noted by communications director John 'Bucky' Buckley, the allure of collecting adorable creatures has sparked interest in whether Palworld might appear on the Nintendo Switch, the preferred platform for Pokemon fans.
Unfortunately, Buckley confirmed that a Nintendo Switch release is unlikely due to technical limitations. "If we could make the game work on the Switch, we would, but Palworld is a beefy game," he explained. I had the chance to discuss this further with Buckley at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, following his presentation titled 'Community Management Summit: A Palworld Roller Coaster: Surviving the Drop.' When asked about the potential for a Nintendo Switch 2 release, Buckley expressed interest but noted that the feasibility of a port remains uncertain as they haven't seen the new console's specifications yet. "Like everyone else, we're waiting. I'm walking around GDC hoping someone will tell me them, but everyone I've spoken to says they haven't even seen them," he shared.
Buckley added that if the Nintendo Switch 2 proves powerful enough, it would definitely be worth considering. He highlighted their successful optimization efforts for the Steam Deck, indicating their commitment to making the game accessible on various handheld devices. "We did a lot of optimization for Steam Deck, which we were really happy with. Still work to do, but we're really happy with how it turned out. So we would like to get it on more handhelds if possible."
Speculation about Palworld's absence from the Nintendo Switch has also been fueled by a lawsuit from Nintendo over alleged patent infringement related to Pokemon's ball-throwing mechanics. However, Buckley clarified that the lawsuit is not the primary barrier to releasing the game on Nintendo's platforms. In his GDC talk, he briefly touched on the lawsuit, admitting it caught the team off guard despite their thorough legal checks prior to the game's release. "Pretty much everyone at Pocketpair is a huge fan [of Pokemon]," Buckley remarked, "so it was a very depressing day, everyone heads down and walking in the rain."
This raises the question of whether Nintendo would permit a game it has contested to be released on its next-generation console. We'll be sharing our full interview with Buckley later this week, so stay tuned for more insights on Palworld. In the meantime, if you've taken a break from the game, now's an excellent time to return, as Palworld recently introduced cross-platform play in its latest update.
