The price of Palworld will stay at $29.99 even after the apparently massive 1.0 update finally brings Pocketpair's survival game out of early access after more than two years.
Pocketpair announced this slight change of plans today, ahead of the 1.0 launch on Friday, July 10. "After much thought, we have decided not to raise the price of Palworld following the 1.0 release and will keep it at $29.99," the studio begins.
"We are incredibly proud of how far Palworld has come. Thanks to the amazing support of our players, it has become a success beyond our wildest dreams. As a small way of saying thank you, we'll be keeping the price at $29.99. Thank you for your continued support."
For years, Palworld's Steam early access blurb has said, "The price of the game may increase at or closer to the official release." It's long been expected that it would jump to, say, $39.99 for update 1.0.
It's normal for early access games to go up in price when they hit version 1.0 and 'officially' launch, or sometimes even after major update milestones mid-early access. Developers have made a fair case for this approach in the past: price reflecting additional content, rewarding early players for supporting development and tolerating some jank, and setting games up for a more sustainable future.
For example, Subnautica 2, one of the biggest early access success stories of 2026, will increase in price after early access, per developer Unknown Worlds.
Palworld, of course, doesn't have to worry about its future. With a staggering 40 million players (not copies sold, but immense nonetheless), the game has made Pocketpair so much money that it can hardly spend it all. The company has opened its own publishing arm and announced multiple Palworld spinoffs, including a card game.
Earlier this year, Thomas Mahler, head of early access action RPG No Rest for the Wicked, made the case for bumping its price to $60 post-early access. "The reason the game launched at $40 was simple: Early Access players should get a discount," he said, adding that he "never loved" the approach of early access games like Baldur's Gate 3, which were full price from the get-go.
