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Palworld is what happens when Pokemon fans get fed up with the swill that Pokemon puts out every few years. While the primary goal of the game is to get all of

Palworld is what happens when Pokemon fans get fed up with the swill that Pokemon puts out every few years. While the primary goal of the game is to get all of the pals, most of your time is spent putting your pals to work building up your base, breeding better pals, and manufacturing the weapons needed in order to get even better pals. This is a stark contrast to Pokemon games, where you just walk around challenging gym leaders. It's an entirely different game. So if Pocketpair reskinned a few assets sure, pay Nintendo 5% at most. But those skins had nothing to do with the success of the game and Nintendo doesn't deserve anything more than that.

spondylosaurus 2y ago
Nothing to do with its success? All the marketing/hype I saw for Palworld prior to its release was "it's like Pokemon, but fucked up!"
- melagonster 2y ago
  IP is so valuable; Hope we have a better system let everyone happy.
- skeaker 2y ago
  Is it really fair to call word of mouth "marketing" in this context, where it's implied to be intentionally pushed by the developer?
Loughla 2y ago
I've never played it. Are the mechanics of catching and fighting pals similar to Pokemon?
- op00to 2y ago
  Catching? Maybe. You use “balls” to catch things. A pokeball seems very similar to the ghost traps from Ghostbusters, for example. Fighting? Not at all similar, unless Psyduck suddenly got Gatling guns.
- slightwinder 2y ago
  Catching is pretty much the same, fighting, yes and now. Original Pokemon is round based with a specific battle screen, while Palworld is real-time on the overworld. Though, the latest Pokemon-Game has a mode where Pokemon can fight others in real-time in the overworld, without interaction of the player. And IIRC you can also catch Pokemon from the overworld directly or at least initiate a Player-controlled fight. So it's very similar to Palworld, but not exactly the same.
djmips 2y ago
Apple and Valve don't get out of bed for less than 30% and they don't even contribute anything creative. 5% seems low.
- tourmalinetaco 2y ago
  Nintendo doesn’t even deserve 1%.
komali2 2y ago
It's a good example of how IP can throttle our societal creative output. For a couple thousand years we all traded stories and art and dances about shared characters, such as various gods, heroes, legends, and monsters, and then suddenly if someone invents a new hero or monster oops now only they can make stories about it or you go to jail. It's absurd. Pokemon has made bajillions of dollars, surely it's time to acknowledge it belongs to our common culture and we all now have a right to make up our own stories, games, music, whatever around it. This isn't radical. It's just a question of time. We would call it madness if Disney claimed to own Greek mythology and sued the makers of the game Hades about it.
loganc2342 2y ago
Palworld would’ve been nothing without riding off the coattails of Pokémon. I’m fed up with the modern Pokémon output too, but Palworld is just a stolen, AI-generated flash-in-the-pan.
- Pako 2y ago
  Where's this AI accusation coming from?
  - krige 2y ago
    The accusation was insistently fielded by some malicious actors back when the early access version launched. It was debunked multiple times but it seems like it stuck to some anyway.
  - snowram 2y ago
    The Pocketpair CEO posted on Twitter some AI generated Pokémons he made two years before Palworld released.
    - scambier 2y ago
      AI image generation wasn't good enough in early 2022 to generate game assets. Yeah you could probably generate pokemon-like looking stuff, but it wouldn't be usable as-is in a game. Edit: and even today. Generate textures for blocky assets? Sure. But full pokémon models that wouldn't need a ton of rework? Nope.
      - mschuster91 2y ago
        > But full pokémon models that wouldn't need a ton of rework? Nope. Well, that is the core benefit of using AI - you can save a lot of the groundwork, especially in concept art. Making 20, 30 versions of "fat rat in yellow with lightning bolt symbols in their fur" is cheap with AI, but prohibitively expensive if you're using humans. You're starting running already.
- xandrius 2y ago
arkh 2y ago
Dunno about Pokemon fans. But when I saw a Steam ad for a survival game with cute chimpanzee shooting guns I had to get it. And then the gameplay loop was nice so I spent too much time playing it.
trustno2 2y ago
Palworld is much worse game than even the recent half-assed Pokemon games
pseudonymcoward 2y ago
I think this is kind of a bad take. There have been plenty of "monster catching game"/"pokemon with the serial numbers filed off" games that have been somewhat successful, but no smash hits. "Cassette Beasts", "Nexomon" and "Temtem" spring to mind. From larger studios there has been stuff like "Monster Hunter Stories" and "World of Final Fantasy". Palworld is really a "survival crafting" game and is closer to a game like "Conan Exiles" which has a similar gameplay mechanic of capturing slaves to put to work in your base. What made Palworld stand out was the shock factor elements of "Pokemon with guns", "make pokemon work as slaves in a factory" and "grind up pokemon for meat", which streamers were able to convert into clickbait thumbnails and views.
- murderfs 2y ago
  > There have been plenty of "monster catching game"/"pokemon with the serial numbers filed off" games that have been somewhat successful, but no smash hits. Notably, the Megami Tensei series, which predates Pokemon.
  - bitmasher9 2y ago
    Pokémon is so much more successful most people assume it’s the first monster hunting/collecting video game series. It really highlights that first mover advantage doesn’t count for everything.
- ectospheno 2y ago
  I enjoy playing Palworld. I can’t stomach the thought of playing yet another Pokémon as I know it will be the same game with differently named gym leaders. Palworld is fun because it isn’t Pokémon. That YouTubers will be YouTubers has nothing to do with it in my case.

spondylosaurus 2y ago

Nothing to do with its success? All the marketing/hype I saw for Palworld prior to its release was "it's like Pokemon, but fucked up!"

melagonster 2y ago
IP is so valuable; Hope we have a better system let everyone happy.
skeaker 2y ago
Is it really fair to call word of mouth "marketing" in this context, where it's implied to be intentionally pushed by the developer?

Loughla 2y ago

I've never played it. Are the mechanics of catching and fighting pals similar to Pokemon?

op00to 2y ago
Catching? Maybe. You use “balls” to catch things. A pokeball seems very similar to the ghost traps from Ghostbusters, for example. Fighting? Not at all similar, unless Psyduck suddenly got Gatling guns.
slightwinder 2y ago
Catching is pretty much the same, fighting, yes and now. Original Pokemon is round based with a specific battle screen, while Palworld is real-time on the overworld. Though, the latest Pokemon-Game has a mode where Pokemon can fight others in real-time in the overworld, without interaction of the player. And IIRC you can also catch Pokemon from the overworld directly or at least initiate a Player-controlled fight. So it's very similar to Palworld, but not exactly the same.

djmips 2y ago

Apple and Valve don't get out of bed for less than 30% and they don't even contribute anything creative. 5% seems low.

tourmalinetaco 2y ago
Nintendo doesn’t even deserve 1%.

komali2 2y ago

It's a good example of how IP can throttle our societal creative output. For a couple thousand years we all traded stories and art and dances about shared characters, such as various gods, heroes, legends, and monsters, and then suddenly if someone invents a new hero or monster oops now only they can make stories about it or you go to jail. It's absurd. Pokemon has made bajillions of dollars, surely it's time to acknowledge it belongs to our common culture and we all now have a right to make up our own stories, games, music, whatever around it. This isn't radical. It's just a question of time. We would call it madness if Disney claimed to own Greek mythology and sued the makers of the game Hades about it.

loganc2342 2y ago

Palworld would’ve been nothing without riding off the coattails of Pokémon. I’m fed up with the modern Pokémon output too, but Palworld is just a stolen, AI-generated flash-in-the-pan.

Pako 2y ago
Where's this AI accusation coming from?
- krige 2y ago
  The accusation was insistently fielded by some malicious actors back when the early access version launched. It was debunked multiple times but it seems like it stuck to some anyway.
- snowram 2y ago
  The Pocketpair CEO posted on Twitter some AI generated Pokémons he made two years before Palworld released.
  - scambier 2y ago
    AI image generation wasn't good enough in early 2022 to generate game assets. Yeah you could probably generate pokemon-like looking stuff, but it wouldn't be usable as-is in a game. Edit: and even today. Generate textures for blocky assets? Sure. But full pokémon models that wouldn't need a ton of rework? Nope.
    - mschuster91 2y ago
      > But full pokémon models that wouldn't need a ton of rework? Nope. Well, that is the core benefit of using AI - you can save a lot of the groundwork, especially in concept art. Making 20, 30 versions of "fat rat in yellow with lightning bolt symbols in their fur" is cheap with AI, but prohibitively expensive if you're using humans. You're starting running already.
xandrius 2y ago

arkh 2y ago

Dunno about Pokemon fans. But when I saw a Steam ad for a survival game with cute chimpanzee shooting guns I had to get it. And then the gameplay loop was nice so I spent too much time playing it.

trustno2 2y ago

Palworld is much worse game than even the recent half-assed Pokemon games

pseudonymcoward 2y ago

I think this is kind of a bad take. There have been plenty of "monster catching game"/"pokemon with the serial numbers filed off" games that have been somewhat successful, but no smash hits. "Cassette Beasts", "Nexomon" and "Temtem" spring to mind. From larger studios there has been stuff like "Monster Hunter Stories" and "World of Final Fantasy". Palworld is really a "survival crafting" game and is closer to a game like "Conan Exiles" which has a similar gameplay mechanic of capturing slaves to put to work in your base. What made Palworld stand out was the shock factor elements of "Pokemon with guns", "make pokemon work as slaves in a factory" and "grind up pokemon for meat", which streamers were able to convert into clickbait thumbnails and views.

murderfs 2y ago
> There have been plenty of "monster catching game"/"pokemon with the serial numbers filed off" games that have been somewhat successful, but no smash hits. Notably, the Megami Tensei series, which predates Pokemon.
- bitmasher9 2y ago
  Pokémon is so much more successful most people assume it’s the first monster hunting/collecting video game series. It really highlights that first mover advantage doesn’t count for everything.
ectospheno 2y ago
I enjoy playing Palworld. I can’t stomach the thought of playing yet another Pokémon as I know it will be the same game with differently named gym leaders. Palworld is fun because it isn’t Pokémon. That YouTubers will be YouTubers has nothing to do with it in my case.