Palworld Director: Nintendo Switch 2 Version Worth Considering if 'Beefy Enough'

When Pocketpair's monster capturing survival adventure, Palworld, was released, it quickly drew comparisons to Pokemon, often being dubbed "Pokemon with guns." Despite the comparison not being Pocketpair's favorite, as noted by communications director John 'Bucky' Buckley, the allure of collecting cute monsters has led many to wonder if Palworld would ever find its way to the Nintendo Switch, the preferred platform for Pokemon games.

Unfortunately, Buckley has confirmed that a Switch release is unlikely due to technical constraints. "If we could make the game work on the Switch, we would, but Palworld is a beefy game," he explained.

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 Pocketpair is currently involved in a lawsuit with Nintendo over alleged patent infringement related to Pokemon's ball-throwing mechanics, Buckley clarified that this legal battle isn't the primary reason Palworld hasn't been released on the Switch. In his GDC talk, he 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 question remains whether Nintendo would permit a game it has contested to be released on its next-generation console.

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