After unveiling multiplayer life sim Palfarm yesterday, comparisons between the cozy game from Palworld developer Pocketpair and new Pokemon spin-off Pokopia (which was itself revealed less than two weeks ago) have unsurprisingly surfaced. However, the timing means that any similarities truly are just a coincidence.
Global community manager John "Bucky" Buckley seems to imply as much in a new online post, reiterating what was said before – that Palfarm has been in the works "for over a year now" – and Pocketpair doesn't house "wizard-level" devs who can magically conjure up a game in just one week. "A certain % of silliness and grumpy people were expected when announcing Palfarm," and "a smaller %" of anger towards Pocketpair was too, he writes.
"But I'm surprised how many people think we're wizard-level developers able to make a game in one week," continues Bucky. "The tinfoil hats are out in force."
In a follow-up response to his original thread, the community lead says, "There is a certain level of poetic irony," as the very folks directing hatred toward Pocketpair "are the same people thinking we made an entire game in one week." He jokingly adds, "Schrödinger's Pocketpair, I guess."
Bucky then concludes, "We are both a 'slop company' and capable of making entire games in one week, it seems," adding a shrug emoji. Fans seem to agree with the dev's sentiment, going as far as citing Pokopia in their responses. "People who call your game slop but somehow praise Pokopia are not to be taken seriously," reads one such reply. Another outlines how the two games are "clearly inspired by different things."
In the commenter's words, "Pokopia is inspired by Animal Crossing and Minecraft/Dragon Quest Builders," whereas "Palfarm is inspired by Harvest Moon, Story of Seasons, and Stardew Valley." None of this has been said by either game's dev, obviously, but it's a good point – Pokopia is definitely giving Animal Crossing: New Horizons vibes while Palfarm feels very Stardew Valley with its focus on farming and the like.
It's not the only exciting thing coming from Pocketpair, either. The long-awaited 1.0 release of Palworld is coming next year, so there's plenty to look forward to. Here's hoping awkward comparisons between the dev's games and others' own die down in the meantime.
