Last summer, the developer of Palworld, Pocketpair, entered into a significant partnership with Sony Music Entertainment. This collaboration was aimed at expanding the Palworld universe beyond video games, through the creation of merchandise, music, and various other products. Despite this being a straightforward business agreement, some fans mistakenly interpreted it as an indication that an acquisition by Sony was imminent. This confusion was further fueled by earlier rumors suggesting that Pocketpair had been in discussions with Microsoft about a potential acquisition.
Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe later clarified that these acquisition rumors were unfounded at the time, yet they sparked a wave of speculation among the gaming community. The conversation gained momentum, particularly with Microsoft's aggressive acquisition strategy within the AA gaming sector and its interest in Japanese developers, alongside Sony's own acquisitions in response.
The question of whether Pocketpair will ever be acquired remains open, but according to John 'Bucky' Buckley, the communications director and publishing manager, at the recent Game Developers Conference, the likelihood of such an event is extremely low. Buckley emphasized the CEO's stance, stating, "Our CEO would 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 comments were definitive, suggesting that any acquisition would be out of the question under the current leadership. 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."
During our interview at the conference, Buckley also touched on other topics, including the potential for Palworld to be released on the Nintendo Switch 2, the studio's reaction to the game being dubbed "Pokemon with guns," and more. You can delve into the complete discussion [ttpp].
