Palworld left early access on July 10, more than two years after Pocketpair's creature-collecting survival game arrived on Steam in January 2024 and became one of the platform's fastest sellers.
The game has sold around 40 million copies in that time, according to Rock Paper Shotgun's report on the release. Pocketpair published the 1.0 version's full changelog alongside the launch; the outlet described it as enormous, listing 72 new Pals along with new areas, settlements, islands and ruins, and a set of mechanical reworks.
Two years of additions
Palworld drew attention on release for pairing creature collection with base building and firearms, a combination that invited immediate comparisons to Pokémon. The early access period added new islands, space-themed Pals and licensed collaborations.
Reviewing the January 2024 build for Rock Paper Shotgun, Katharine Castle called it "base building junk food" and argued the game was not really trying to be a Pokémon-like in the way Cassette Beasts, Coromon or TemTem are. Two years of additions have widened the game considerably, though the outlet's report on the 1.0 release stops short of saying the underlying loop has changed character.
The 1.0 release also closes out a stretch in which the studio was in court. Nintendo sued Pocketpair over patents covering game mechanics rather than over the designs of the creatures themselves. Pocketpair conceded ground during the dispute, removing the ability to summon Pals by throwing a Palsphere and the ability to use them for gliding.
Neither the lawsuit nor the changes stopped the studio from expanding. Pocketpair has moved into publishing other developers' games, released a Palworld spin-off card game, and announced a Palworld farming simulator shortly after Nintendo revealed Pokopia, its own Pokémon-adjacent life sim.
Pocketpair has not said what the post-1.0 roadmap looks like. The 1.0 build is available on the platforms the game shipped on during early access.
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