Palworld Director: Switch 2 Version '100% Worth It' if Console Is Powerful Enough

When Pocketpair released their monster capturing survival adventure game, Palworld, it quickly drew comparisons to Pokemon, with many dubbing it "Pokemon with guns." Despite the frequent comparisons, which Pocketpair's communications director John 'Bucky' Buckley isn't fond of, the allure of amassing a collection of cute creatures has led fans to wonder if Palworld might ever find its way onto the Nintendo Switch, Pokemon's favored platform.

Unfortunately, Buckley has dashed those hopes, citing technical challenges. "If we could make the game work on the Switch, we would, but Palworld is a beefy game," he explained. At the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, following his presentation titled 'Community Management Summit: A Palworld Roller Coaster: Surviving the Drop,' Buckley discussed the possibility of a release on the rumored Nintendo Switch 2. He expressed interest but noted that the team hasn't yet reviewed the specifications for the new console. "We haven't seen those specs yet," Buckley said. "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 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."

While some have speculated that a lawsuit from Nintendo over alleged patent infringement related to Pokemon's ball-throwing mechanics might be the real reason Palworld hasn't come to the Switch, Buckley clarified that the lawsuit isn't what's preventing a release on Nintendo's platforms. In his GDC talk, Buckley briefly touched on the lawsuit, mentioning that it came as a surprise to the team despite their efforts to ensure legal compliance before the game's launch. "Pretty much everyone at Pocketpair is a huge fan [of Pokemon]," Buckley shared, "so it was a very depressing day, everyone heads down and walking in the rain."

The burning question remains: Would Nintendo welcome a game it has legally challenged onto its next-generation console? The answer to that remains uncertain. Stay tuned for our full interview with Buckley from GDC, which we'll be posting later this week. In the meantime, if you've taken a break from Palworld, now's a great time to dive back in, as the game recently introduced cross-platform play with its latest update.