The developer of Palworld has signed a deal with Sony to form a new business called Palworld Entertainment to capitalize on the breakout success of the video game by expanding the IP.
Japan-based Pocketpair announced a joint venture with Sony Music Entertainment in Japan and Aniplex to establish Palworld Entertainment “for the purpose of accelerating the multifaceted global development of Palworld and its further expansion.”
This is not a publishing deal for Palworld the video game, or an acquisition by Sony, rather an attempt to make the most of the game’s huge popularity with non-video game products, such as merchandise and music. The newly formed business, headed up by Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe, is responsible for global licensing and merchandising activities associated with Palworld.
Palworld, dubbed ‘Pokémon with guns’, is a survival and crafting game that enjoyed record-breaking success after it launched in early access form across PC and Xbox in January.
The player count exceeded 25 million in a month, with Palworld becoming the biggest third-party Game Pass launch of all time and an incredible 15 million copies sold on Steam alone.
In March, Mizobe confirmed Palworld cost less than ¥1 billion ($6.7 million) to make, and had made tens of billions of yen in profit. For context, ¥10 billion is around $67.2 million. Mizobe admitted the profits were “too big for a studio with our size to handle.”
Palworld is one of the biggest game launches of all time, but it is also one of the most controversial. Pocketpair has said its staff received death threats amid the Pokémon “rip-off” claims, which it has denied.
Soon after Palworld’s launch Nintendo moved quickly to remove an eye-catching Pokémon mod, then The Pokemon Company issued a statement, saying: “We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.”
At the time, IGN asked lawyers whether Nintendo could successfully sue. Pocketpair recently insisted it has yet to hear anything from either Nintendo or The Pokemon Company.
Pocketpair has also teased Palworld on PlayStation, and after today’s announcement such a release seems closer than ever.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.