When Palworld blew up last year, one of the most common comparisons that fans made was to Nintendo’s Pokémon series. While there has been controversy regarding potentially stolen assets from Nintendo’s series and its developer, Pocketpair, is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Nintendo over such a thing, it seems the developer isn’t ruling out a potential port to Switch 2. All of that depends on whether or not the console is “beefy enough.”
IGN’s Rebekah Valentine had the chance to speak with John “Bucky” Buckley, Pocketpair’s communications director, at GDC last week and she asked him directly about the chances of Palworld heading to the Nintendo Switch. Buckley stated, “If we could make the game work on the Switch, we would, but Palworld is a beefy game.” Many have speculated that the ongoing lawsuit has been the main roadblock for Palworld appearing on Nintendo’s platform, but it seems the real reason is technical limitations.
So, obviously, the Switch 2 should clear that up, right? Well, Buckley can’t answer the question definitively as Pocketpair hasn’t seen a development kit. “We haven’t seen those specs yet,” Buckley said. “Like everyone else, we’re waiting. I’m walking around GDC hoping someone will tell me them, but everyone I’ve spoken to says they haven’t even seen them.” Still, that doesn’t mean Palworld on Switch 2 is completely dead in the water.
“If it’s [Switch 2] beefy enough, it’s 100% worth considering,” Buckley stated. “We did a lot of optimization for Steam Deck, which we were really happy with… So we would like to get it on more handhelds if possible.” I think it would be quite astounding to see the game sitting right next to its inspiration on the same home screen, but I have to wonder if Nintendo would even allow the release. Last year, it was revealed that the Japanese PS5 version of Palworld had been put on indefinite hold, though Sony never revealed why. It seems likely that the ongoing lawsuit was the issue, though the game did eventually come to the platform. All that might mean that even if the Switch 2 is powerful enough, Palworld won’t be palling around with Pokémon.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
