Palworld's CEO Rejects Acquisition: 'It's Not Happening'

Last summer, the developer of Palworld, Pocketpair, signed a deal with Sony Music Entertainment to explore new avenues for the franchise, including merchandise, music, and other products. This move was aimed at expanding the Palworld universe beyond the gaming realm. However, this business agreement led to some fans mistakenly believing it signaled an impending acquisition, especially following rumors earlier in the year that Pocketpair was in discussions with Microsoft for a potential buyout.

Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe later debunked these acquisition rumors, but the speculation continued to fuel discussions among fans. This interest was heightened by Microsoft's aggressive acquisition strategy in the gaming industry and their reported interest in Japanese developers, as well as Sony's own acquisitions in response.

The question of whether Pocketpair will ever be acquired remains open, but according to communications director and publishing manager John 'Bucky' Buckley, the likelihood is extremely low. During a conversation at the Game Developers Conference last month, Buckley emphasized, “Our CEO would never allow it. He'd never allow it. He'd never allow it. He would never, never allow it. He likes doing his own thing and he likes being his own boss. He doesn't like people telling him what to do.”

Buckley's stance was clear and emphatic. He added, “So I would be shocked. Maybe when he's old, and he might just sell it off for money. And that would be sad, but in my lifetime, I probably won't see it. No, it'll be interesting to see where the two paths go. We, Pocketpair, are obviously only involved in where the game path is going. Palworld as an IP, we are involved, but it’s very much in the hands of Aniplex and Sony Music who are steering that ship right now. We are just offering our advice and thoughts as they take that.”

Buckley and I also spoke about the potential of Palworld coming to the Nintendo Switch 2, the studio's reaction to the game being dubbed “Pokemon with guns”, and other topics in our interview. You can read the full discussion right here.