Palworld devs would be "happy to hand the IP over" to the right studio for a spin-off, unless it was a Balatro or Clair Obscur-like: "As long as it's something that the players want"

Palworld's already become a series capable of spinning out into all sorts of whacky directions, from the previously announced multiplayer farming game Palworld: Palfarm to a cursed dating sim where you romance high school versions of the Pals. Developer Pocketpair would be happy to see more odd offshoots as well, but only if they make some sort of sense in Palworld's nonsensical world.

"Personally, I don't think Palworld is going to be like this media empire, and we have no desire to be a media empire," publishing and communications director John 'Bucky' Buckley told GamesRadar+ in an interview at the Game Developers Conference. "But I think we can expect more kind of fun little Palworld stuff."

Buckley adds the studio is "happy to have those conversations" about Palworld spin-off games with outside teams, "as long as it's different and as long as it's something that the players want."

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Pocketpair seems pretty open to letting another developer do as they wish with its monster-tamer, too. "I'm sure we'd be happy to hand the IP over," Buckley says, pointing to how Krafton is "spearheading" Palworld Mobile.

While Buckley and the rest of the studio seem to have an open mind when it comes to their smash hit survival game, he did jokingly draw the line at a "Palworld Balatro" or a "Palworld Expedition 33" because the base game is "a bit too slapstick for anything too serious."

This is a game that encourages you to force Pals into a lifetime of manual labor for the sake of efficiency (and giggles), after all. Turning it into a dramatic turn-based RPG probably just turns the concept from slapstick to depressing.

On ideas that might be better suited to what Palworld has already set up, Buckley says a pixel art game of some sort "could be super cool" and a fighting game might also be "pretty funny" if done right. "If someone out there wants to talk to me about it, reach out."

"I wouldn't rule out a Palworld 2.0," says Pocketpair publishing head, but don't expect a "No Man's Sky situation" with a "decade of continuous, massive updates."