When Monster Pocketpair, which appeared in the adventures of Survival Palworld, many people compared it to Pokemon, especially containing it “Pokemon with pistols”. This is not a favorite comparison of Pocketpair, according to the communication director John “Bucky” Buckley, but the thought of gathering charming monsters, however, prompted many people to ask if Palworld will ever reach the selected Pokemon platform, Nintendo Switch.
Unfortunately, according to Buckley, it is not in cards, mainly for technical reasons. “If we could make the game work on the switch, we would do it, but Palworld is a strong game.”
I talked to Buckley at the Game Developers conference in San Francisco last week after his conversation “Community Management Summit: A Palworld Roller Coaster: Surviving the Drop”. During our chat I also asked Buckley about the possibility of releasing Nintendo Switch 2. He said that Pocketpair was interested, but he had no opportunity to check if the port was still possible.
“We haven’t seen these specifications yet,” he said. “Like everyone else, we wait. I walk around GDC, I hope someone tells them to me, but everyone I talked to say that they didn’t even see them.
“If it is powerful enough, it is worth considering 100%. We did a lot of optimization for the Steam deck, of which we were very cheerful. We are still working, but we are very pleased with what it turned out. So we would like to get more conveyors, if possible.”
Pocketpair remains entangled in a lawsuit with Nintendo regarding the alleged violation of the patent against the mechanics of throwing Pokemon’s ball, which led some to speculation that this is the actual reason why Palworld did not force him to change.
The question is: would Nintendo allow the game with which he had such a problem on a new generation console?
This week we will publish our full interview with Buckley in GDC, so check more about Palworld. In the meantime, this is a great time to return to Palworld again, if you left, because the game has just played in a new update last week.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior Ign reporter. You can find her post on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.skyla. Do you have a hint with history? Send it to ralentine@ign.com.
