Summary
The massive success ofPalworldis a testament to what a small team of indie developers can do with a solid gameplay idea. WhilePalworldhas faced some criticism for its dubious use ofPokemon-inspired designs for its Pals, this controversy hasn’t stopped the game from skyrocketing up the Steam concurrent player charts. As a title in early access, many players are wondering ifPalworldcan maintain this momentum as it continues to smooth out its rough edges and add new content, but the current popularity of the game shows that it may not have to fix every issue to do so.
Palworldmight not be feature-complete, but that hasn’t stopped the game from keeping up with thesales pace of games likePokemon Scarlet and Violet. The game’s strong sales suggest that there is a high demand for more open-world creature-collecting games and that players are willing to look pastPalworld’s flaws and controversy in order to experience the satisfying gameplay loop of exploring its world, taming Pals, and building settlements. As such,Palworldmight not have to improve drastically on its shortcomings to remain successful, since the game has already proven it can go toe-to-toe withPokemonin its current state.
Palworld’s Success Comes Despite Its Flaws
WhilePalworld’s core gameplay loop successfully blends the creature-collecting aspects of thePokemonseries with the survival crafting mechanics of games likeMinecraftandArk: Survival Evolved, it’s clear that the game is still a work in progress. There are numerous bugs that players have encountered, such as ones thatbreakPalworld’s character modelsor prevent enemy AI from acting correctly. Bugs aside, there are also quality-of-life features thatPalworldis missing that could also greatly improve the players' experiences if they were added in a future update.
Despite the presence of these issues, players have still flocked toPalworldand continue to pour hundreds of hours into the game, creating unique structures and taming the most powerful Pals. Even with adecrease in the overall number of players sincePalworld’s releaseinto early access, the game still shows the incredible potential of what can be accomplished with limited resources.Palworldcould continue its success simply by adding more content like new Pals and areas to explore, without needing to dive into tweaking some of its technical issues.
Palworld and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Show that Rough Edges Don’t Hinder Open-World Creature-Collecting Games
It’s difficult to avoid comparisons betweenPalworldand thePokemonseries, but another thing the two share is the rough state of their most recent games.Pokemonfans might recall the myriad ofglitches and performance issues that plaguedPokemon Scarlet and Violetwhen they launched back in 2022. However, despite these issues,Pokemon Scarlet and Violetstill went on to sell over 23 million units while being praised by fans for the ways in which they evolved thePokemonformula to fit an open-world design and introducing some of the most memorable characters the franchise has seen in some time.
Palworldmight find itself in a similar position toPokemon Scarlet and Violet, one where the technical flaws of the game aren’t enough to hold back the player’s overall enjoyment. This trend goes to show that there is a large audience for open-world creature-collecting titles that are eager enough for content that they are willing to look past some rough areas as long as the core gameplay is fun. With this in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see developer Pocketpair shift their focus towards adding more content to the game rather than polishing what’s already there asPalworld’s early accessperiod continues.
