Pocketpair Publishing was announced just a few weeks ago, at the tail end of January. As an all-new arm of Pocketpair, the developer behind Palworld, Pocketpair Publishing is dedicated to bringing indie titles to life. However, the brand’s publishing manager, John Buckley, recently issued something of a warning.
He mentioned that while Pocketpair Publishing bears the name, it’s not related to the creation of Palworld, nor should it be assumed that ‘more Palworld’ is coming from the games that sign to the publishing label. By that, he means that players shouldn’t expect the vast levels of success seen with Palworld’s 2024 release, which turned heads worldwide.
‘They Are All Bangers’
John Buckley from Pocketpair Publishing recently took to social media to stress how nervous he is about announcing the first batch of games that the team is working on. It was revealed in January that Surgent Studios, the creator behind Tales of Kenzera, has aligned with Pocketpair Publishing to produce a new game.
On Twitter, Buckley wrote:
I’m very nervous to reveal our first batch of games.
Not because I think the reception will be bad (they are all bangers), but because I worry people will just expect more Palworld.
PPP’s goal is to help cool indies get made so I hope you like our first round of games!
He then pointed out that Palworld’s ongoing development is ‘completely unaffected by PPP’ and that ‘us publishing more games like Palworld’ isn’t on the cards.
It’s a relatively loaded statement that has been taken with a mixed reception. Some feel that Buckley – who goes as ‘Bucky’ online – has immediately soured the line-up of games that PPP is yet to announce, restricting expectations and making us feel as though there’s a lack of faith at the publisher regarding the potential success of these games.
After all, nobody expected Palworld, which was presented as ‘Pokémon with guns,’ to break player count records and secure tens of millions of fans in the blink of an eye, but that’s what happened. If I were a developer aligning with Pocketpair Publishing, I’d perhaps be critical of that post by the brand’s publishing manager.
Are you looking forward to seeing what Pocketpair Publishing can produce? Let me know in the comments or on the Insider Gaming forum.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that PlayStation has another live-service multiplayer game up its sleeve
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