Pocketpair CEO wants to pursue only projects that are 'interesting as indie games'.

Pocketpair's CEO, however, would prefer to make an indie game than something that could "go above AAA."

According to a GameSpark Interview with CEO Takuro Mizbe (translated by Google Translate & DeepL), Palworld was developed from the money Pocketpair earned from its two previous titles, Craftopia & Overdungeon. And it paid off: Palworld's survival-meets-Pokemon genre mashup rocketed it to success, raking in "tens of billions in yen," which is around $70 million, enough to make a game at a AAA scale. Mizobe says Pocketpair isn't able to handle a game of that size and that he prefers smaller games.

Mizobe says he doesn't want to make any games that require a large budget. "I want to pursue a game that I find interesting as an independent game."

In an interview with the YouTube channel Going Indie, Palworld community manager John "Bucky Buckley" urged people to "spend as much money on indies that you can." Buckley and Mizobe, it would seem, want to see the indie sector thrive as much or more than the AAA live service titles that are released every year. Palworld has been updated several times since its early access release, but Pocketpair is not committing to continue it indefinitely once it's completed. It will eventually move on to the next thing.

Palword is unlikely to disappear for a while. Palworld Entertainment was formed by Pocketpair and Sony in collaboration to handle "global licensing, merchandising, and other activities associated with Palworld beyond the interactive game," as stated in the official announcement. Palworld's success is sure to continue to benefit Pocketpair, no matter what their next game is.

Mizobe's desire to make more indie games rather than a massive sequel to Palworld is not something we see often. Most studios keep expanding until they can't do it anymore. Palworld was appealing because it didn't try to be the game that you spend your entire life in. It was just so good that people were willing to do it. It didn't require a high-budget experience that was highly polished to attract millions of people. If Palworld were that kind of game the risk of failure would have been devastating. I'm not at all surprised Pocketpair hasn't changed its strategy.