Palworld Director: Nintendo Switch 2 Version Considered if Console Is 'Beefy Enough'

When Pocketpair's monster capturing survival adventure, Palworld, was released, it quickly drew comparisons to Pokemon, with many dubbing it "Pokemon with guns." Although Pocketpair's communications director, John 'Bucky' Buckley, isn't thrilled with the comparison, the allure of collecting adorable monsters has sparked curiosity about whether Palworld might ever make its way to the Nintendo Switch, the preferred platform for Pokemon fans.

Unfortunately, Buckley has dashed those hopes, citing technical limitations. "If we could make the game work on the Switch, we would, but Palworld is a beefy game," he explained. I had the opportunity to speak with Buckley at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco following his presentation titled 'Community Management Summit: A Palworld Roller Coaster: Surviving the Drop.' During our discussion, I also inquired about the possibility of a release on the rumored Nintendo Switch 2. Buckley expressed interest but noted that they haven't yet seen the specifications for the new console. "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 remarked.

He further 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."

Amidst the technical hurdles, Pocketpair is also navigating a lawsuit from Nintendo over alleged patent infringement related to Pokemon's ball-throwing mechanics. This has led some to speculate that legal issues are the real barrier to a Switch release. However, Buckley clarified during his GDC talk that the lawsuit was unexpected and that the team had conducted extensive legal reviews before launching Palworld. "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 looming question remains: would Nintendo permit a game it's taken issue with to appear on its next-generation console?

We'll be sharing our complete interview with Buckley later this week, so stay tuned for more insights on Palworld. In the meantime, if you've taken a break from the game, now might be a great time to return, as Palworld recently introduced cross-platform play with its latest update.