Palworld maker Pocketpair won't suddenly end major updates after the upcoming release of Palworld 1.0, but publishing head John Buckley says big patches can't realistically go on forever, or even for a decade.
Speaking with GamesRadar+ at GDC, Buckley recognizes, "A lot of our hardcore fans and players would love for Palworld to be this No Man's Sky situation where it's like a decade of continuous, massive updates. But realistically, that's probably not on the cards for Palworld, not only because of engine limitations, but also, it's a survival crafting game. I think there's only so many times you can add five levels, add 10 levels, until it gets to this massive bloat point.
"Even World of Warcraft had that stat squish years and years ago," he points out. "Palworld is linear progression. I think if Palworld didn't have that progression, you could do it forever like No Man's Sky. But it's gonna have to stop at some point, and then we can think about what comes after, and that's exciting for us."
The 1.0 update will be a big milestone for Palworld, but not necessarily its last significant one. "I wouldn't rule out a Palworld 2.0," Buckley says, pondering the future of the game. "It really depends on what we can do with the game at the moment, how we can expand it without it feeling boring. Not only boring, but how we can expand it while also being approachable."
Palworld can only become so big before its console versions start running into problems, for one. Another concern, Buckley says, is making Palworld too big and intimidating for new or casual players. The 65 existing levels of content, which the 1.0 update will greatly expand, is already "20-30 hours of gameplay" at a very bare minimum, he estimates.
"How much more can you stretch that until it gets to the point where more casual players feel like it's a chore?" he asks. "That's where it gets tricky with 2.0. And we get into the big debate of, do you continue to expand Palworld and find a way to mitigate those problems? Or do you start thinking about - I won't say the word because I don't want to speak it into existence - something beyond Palworld?" he adds, seemingly stopping just short of uttering the great and terrifying phrase, Palworld 2.
Palworld isn't Pocketpair's first survival crafting game, or its only ongoing one with Craftopia still kicking, and while "100% of Pocketpair right now is working on Palworld 1.0," Buckley indicates the studio's future interests reach beyond the walls of Palworld alone. (If you're wondering, life sim spinoff Palworld: Palfarm has its own "tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny spinoff team," Buckley explains.)
"We still have to start thinking about what comes next eventually," he says.
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