A dedicated community is a strong asset for any game, but it can also have drawbacks. In the case of Palworld, it’s constant requests for features developer Pocketpair either can’t make happen or would rather save for a sequel later on down the line.
Chatting to Gaming World Interviews, John ‘Bucky’ Buckley, head of publishing and communications at Pocketpair, spoke on the frustrations that stem from fan demands. “The things that wind me up the most are when people say, ‘I want to be able to dig the terrain,’ and you’re like, what you’re talking about is Palworld 2,” he says.
“These things are impossible, it’s not engine reworks, it’s landscape reworks, the pathfinding rework would be years of development,” he explains. “This stuff is just not feasible. Please don’t ask for terrain digging, it’s not happening.”
He mentions that he sympathizes with fans in this regard, because there can be a gulf between how players understand a game and what’s possible in the actual development. What can seem like a simple extension of existing ideas and mechanics could be months of tinkering behind-the-scenes.
Another example is in having underwater environments, a recurring request Buckley has had to be emphatic about shutting down for the same reasons. “You’re talking about years of development, and do they want that?” he asks, rhetorically. “Do you want to wait three years for an update? Do we want to wait three years for an update?”
At risk of stating the obvious: no, we don’t, and no, they likely don’t. There’s always Palworld 2 for these additions, and in the meantime, nobody seems too perturbed, since 1.0 saw the game get shy of one million players at once. And hey, we’re getting a dating sim to boot.