Last year, Palworld debuted on PC and Xbox Series X|S, with a version coming to PS5 several months later. The game has yet to appear on a Nintendo platform, but it seems that could change. Pocketpair communications director John “Bucky” Buckley was at Game Developers Conference last week, alongside several notable developers throughout the industry. At GDC, Buckley spoke to IGN, where he revealed that the “beefy” nature of Palworld made it too difficult to pull off on the current Nintendo Switch hardware. Buckley did not rule out a potential version for Nintendo Switch 2, but was quick to note that Pocketpair is not yet familiar with the hardware.
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“We haven’t seen those specs yet. 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,” Buckley told IGN. “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.”
While specs are one reason Palworld might not end up on Nintendo’s new system, there are other hurdles. For one thing, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company announced a joint lawsuit against Pocketpair last year over Palworld. It remains to be seen how that lawsuit will play out, and if things will end up being settled amicably between the companies. The lawsuit claims that Palworld infringes on multiple patents, including one connected to the use of Poke Balls. Since the lawsuit was filed, Pocketpair has made at least one major change to Palworld, which seemed to be an effort on the company’s part to resolve the situation.
The idea of Palworld coming to Nintendo Switch 2 after all this might seem hard to believe. However, there’s clearly some kind of working relationship between Nintendo and Pocketpair. Earlier this year, Pocketpair released its first game on Nintendo Switch, a game called Overdungeon. At the time, the announcement of a Pocketpair game on Switch seemed quite surprising, but clearly the lawsuit isn’t stopping the 2 companies from working together. Palworld might be a different story though, so it will be interesting to see how all of this plays out.
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Pocketpair and the rest of the world will have a much better idea of what to expect from Nintendo Switch 2 next week. A Nintendo Direct presentation will take place on Wednesday, April 2nd. The presentation will offer our first official update on the system since it was revealed back in January. No one quite knows what to expect, but it’s possible we could learn about specs, and the types of third-party games Nintendo Switch 2 will be capable of playing. It’s been a long wait, but an end is nearly in sight.
Do you think we’ll ever see Palworld on a Nintendo system? What games do you want to see on Nintendo Switch 2? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
