It looks like Palworld might be set to get some sort of multiplayer-only spin-off, as developer Pocketpair has filed a trademark for Palworld Online.
As spotted by Gematsu, trademarks for Palworld Online have been filed in both South Korea and the United States. On the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website, there are actually two separate filings – one with a logo that matches the same font as the regular ol' Palworld we know and love, and one with the Palworld Online name in plain text.
The US patents were both filed on April 27 by Pocketpair, and show as pending rather than registered, but the South Korean one was filed slightly sooner, on April 24.
Whether this indicates an impending new project announcement from Pocketpair or the devs are just trying to get ahead of anyone else and claim the trademark now, is another matter. The logo certainly suggests it could be the former, although that then raises the question of what Palworld Online could actually be.
After all, regular Palworld – although it can be played in single-player – already has online multiplayer functionality.
"Online" makes me think more in the direction of an MMORPG, and honestly, it's a format I could see working for Pocketpair. I'm definitely not the only one thinking this, as it's now a popular theory on social media. "PALWORLD IS GOING MMO?" one post speculates, as another writes: "HELLO???? Palworld MMO Soon or what?"
The studio has already been branching out plenty – as well as Palworld's big 1.0 release, which is planned for later this year, the devs have announced farming game spin-off Palworld: Palfarm, on top of the dating sim that once started as an April Fool's Day joke, Palworld: More Than Just Pals.
In case that wasn't enough, Krafton's Palworld Mobile is also in the works, and there's even a physical trading card game on the way, set to arrive in July.
Although Pocketpair's publishing and communications director John 'Bucky' Buckley previously told us that "we have no desire to be a media empire," he also said the devs would be "happy to have those conversations" about spin-offs with external teams, "as long as it's different and as long as it's something that the players want."
That's all to say that as long as the demand for Palworld is there, it's seemingly going to keep growing – we'll just have to wait and see what, if anything, comes from the Palworld Online trademarks.
