PUBG developer and new Tango Gameworks owner, Krafton, has partnered up with Palworld developer, Pocketpair, to bring the controversial creature capture to mobile devices.
Announced on in Korean on its website, Krafton plans to “faithfully implement the main fun elements” of Pocketpair’s survival game, often labeled as “Pokemon with guns.” It isn’t clear if this will be an attempted recreation of the game itself on mobile or if it will be something completely different. If we had to guess, it’s likely tweaked heavily as the game doesn’t seem well-optimized for a mobile experience.
It’s wild to see such a push forward to bring Palworld elsewhere considering the current patent lawsuit it’s facing with Nintendo over unnamed patents it’s supposedly infringing. Pocketpair, for its part, vows to fight the suit, pinning Nintendo as the bad guys looking to bully small developers.
The game has since gone from a primarily PC and Xbox game stuck in Early Access to releasing on PlayStation 5 and partnering with Sony and its Aniplex to form Palworld Entertainment, planning to bring the IP beyond the game world, as reported by IGN.
Smash Jump’s Julian Barber said even in its Early Access state, it “far exceeded the expectations” he had. He also said: “The exploration can feel challenging but fair, and the rewarding feeling you get from leveling up your base or catching a Pal with an extremely low catch rate is amazing.”