Palworld Director: Nintendo Switch 2 Version Worth Considering if 'Beefy Enough'

When Pocketpair's monster capturing survival adventure, Palworld, was released, it quickly drew comparisons to the Pokemon series, often being dubbed "Pokemon with guns." Despite this, Pocketpair's communications director, John 'Bucky' Buckley, has expressed that while they're flattered by the attention, the comparison isn't their favorite. The allure of collecting cute monsters has sparked curiosity among fans, wondering if Palworld might ever find its way to the Nintendo Switch, the traditional home of Pokemon games.

Unfortunately, according to Buckley, a Switch release is unlikely due to technical limitations. "If we could make the game work on the Switch, we would, but Palworld is a beefy game," he stated. This sentiment was shared during a conversation at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, following Buckley's talk titled 'Community Management Summit: A Palworld Roller Coaster: Surviving the Drop.' When asked about the possibility of a release on the rumored Nintendo Switch 2, Buckley expressed interest but noted that without knowing the console's specifications, it's too early to tell if a port would be feasible. "We haven't seen those specs yet," he mentioned. "Like everyone else, we're waiting. I'm walking around GDC hoping someone will tell me them, but everyone I've spoken to says they haven't even seen them."

He further added, "If it's beefy enough, it's 100% worth considering. We did a lot of optimization for Steam Deck, which we were really happy with. Still work to do, but we're really happy with how it turned out. So we would like to get it on more handhelds if possible."

Amidst these technical considerations, Pocketpair is also navigating a lawsuit from Nintendo over alleged patent infringement related to Pokemon's ball-throwing mechanics. This has led some to speculate that legal issues might be the real barrier preventing Palworld from appearing on Switch. However, Buckley clarified during his GDC talk that the lawsuit was not the primary reason for the absence of Palworld on Nintendo's platforms. He mentioned that the lawsuit came as a surprise to the team, despite their efforts to avoid such issues through extensive legal checks before the game's launch. "Pretty much everyone at Pocketpair is a huge fan [of Pokemon]," Buckley said, "so it was a very depressing day, everyone heads down and walking in the rain."

The question remains whether Nintendo would welcome a game it has contested legally onto its next-generation console. As the gaming community awaits further developments, Pocketpair continues to engage with its audience. A full interview with Buckley from GDC will be available later this week, offering more insights into Palworld. In the meantime, it's an excellent opportunity for players to dive back into Palworld, especially with the recent addition of cross-platform play in a new update.