Palword: Vastly popular new game reveals its plans for the future

Overnight success has led to some questions and criticisms

Andrew Griffin
Wednesday 24 January 2024 16:27 GMT
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(Palworld/Pocketpair)

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Palworld, probably the world’s fastest growing game, has revealed its plans for the future.

Over the last few days, Palworld has sold millions of copies and rapidly become the best-selling game on platform Steam. Its popularity has led to issues including technical problems for players who have found themselves unable to get online.

It has also brought criticism and controversy, including from some who have argued that it leans heavily on the design of the creatures from Pokémon. It combines them with guns, in another move that has prompted questions over the suitability of the game for children.

In Palworld, players explore an open world, catching “Pals” and using them within the multiplayer game. “Fight, farm, build and work alongside mysterious creatures called “Pals” in this completely new multiplayer, open world survival and crafting game!” its description on Steam reads.

Now the developer of the game, Pocketpair, has revealed its plans for future updates. At the moment, the game is marked as a preview on Steam and other platforms, suggesting that the company aims to develop it quickly.

It did not give any timeframe for the new features and updates, and was largely vague about what exactly they might bring. Pocketpair said only that it would “would like to share with you our roadmap for Palworld”.

“Sales have far exceeded the development team’s expectations, and we are currently experiencing many problems due to excessive access congestion, among other challenges,” Pocketpair said in an update on X/Twitter.

“We will prioritize improving this issue first, and then move on to implementing new in-game features. Thank you for your understanding.”

It said that it had identified “numerous bugs” and is “prioritizing fixing those”. But it will then move on to adding new improvements to the game.

That includes allowing players to battle against each other using their Pals, crossplay between Steam and Xbox, and “Various Xbox Feature Improvements”.

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