Palworld Communications Director Says Developer Unlikely to Be Acquired: ‘Our CEO Would By no means Permit It’

Final summer time, Palworld developer Pocketpair signed a take care of Sony Music Leisure to supply merchandise, music, and different merchandise round Palworld. Although the deal was merely a enterprise settlement to develop the Palworld universe outdoors of video games, quite a lot of followers mistook it for an indication that an acquisition was on the horizon. Particularly after rumors earlier within the yr that Pocketpair was in talks with Microsoft for that very purpose.

All that acquisition discuss wasn’t true on the time, Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe later confirmed, but it surely certain did get dialog began. Since then, quite a lot of followers have speculated on a possible Pocketpair acquisition, particularly within the wake of Microsoft seemingly buying half the AA business in just some years and allegedly courting Japanese builders, and Sony making a number of acquisitions of its personal in response.

So will Pocketpair ever get acquired? Finally, it’s as much as Mizobe, however after I requested communications director and publishing supervisor John ‘Bucky’ Buckley about it on the Recreation Builders Convention final month, he discovered the entire prospect of Pocketpair’s acquisition to be very, impossible.

“Our CEO would by no means enable it,” he stated. “He’d by no means enable it. He’d by no means enable it. He would by no means, by no means enable it. He likes doing his personal factor and he likes being his personal boss. He would not like folks telling him what to do.”

That’s fairly emphatic. Buckley continued:

“So I’d be shocked. Perhaps when he is previous, and he may simply promote it off for cash. And that might be unhappy, however in my lifetime, I in all probability will not see it. No, it will be fascinating to see the place the 2 paths go. We, Pocketpair, are clearly solely concerned in the place the sport path goes. Palworld as an IP, we’re concerned, but it surely’s very a lot within the arms of Aniplex and Sony Music who’re steering that ship proper now. We’re simply providing our recommendation and ideas as they take that.”

Buckley and I additionally spoke about the potential for Palworld coming to the Nintendo Swap 2, the studio’s response to the sport being referred to as “Pokemon with weapons”, and rather more in our interview. You possibly can learn the complete dialogue proper right here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You could find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Obtained a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.