One Door May Have Been Closed For Palworld As Another Open is Opened

Palworld took the industry by storm earlier this year by crushing records across the board and becoming one of the most successful indie titles in recent memory, if not of all time. The team at Pocketpair clearly struck gold with its game concept, which borrows elements from open world games, Minecraft, and most notably, the Pokemon franchise. After the recent merchandising partnership with Sony and the PS5 version announcement, a game that started as a humble early-access indie is being enjoyed by more players than ever.

But all isn’t perfect for Palworld or its developers. The overt similarities to Pokemon have landed the studio in some legal hot water with Nintendo, which is currently pursuing a lawsuit against Pocketpair. This hasn’t slowed Palworld down on PC, PS5, or Xbox, although this legal action almost certainly spells doom for Palworld ever arriving on Switch or other Nintendo-owned consoles. But as the old saying goes “one door closes, another opens.”

If Palworld Can’t Come to Switch, Its Mobile Version Can Pick Up the Slack

Now there’s no telling with 100% certainty that Palworld will never come to Nintendo consoles; stranger things have happened. Nintendo is a business and if it feels as though there’s a reasonable opportunity, an agreement could always be hashed out in theory. That said, it’s not a realistic scenario to hope for in light of the Palworld-Nintendo lawsuit. But that doesn’t mean the game is shut out from on-the-go gaming entirely.

Anyone hoping to keep their Pals with them wherever they go can still look forward to the mobile version of Palworld. While some may roll their eyes at the idea, it’s not unreasonable in the slightest. Mobile platforms have come a long way since their beginnings and are capable of running some of the most mainstream and popular games with little to no issues. Major video games have been subtly making the jump to mobile for years with little fanfare, and it’s a platform a lot of gamers sleep on.

AAA Games that Have Mobile App Versions

• Minecraft
• Roblox
• Fortnite
• Call of Duty: Warzone

One of the main appeals of the Switch is the mobility it allows for. In the likely event that Palworld never makes it to Switch, the upcoming app — being developed in a partnership between Pocketpair and PUBG Mobile‘s Krafton — might just be the next best thing.

What Could the Mobile Palworld Bring to the Table?

For a series that draws on Pokemon for inspiration, being on a portable device is almost a must. A huge part of the fun of the Pokemon series was being able to take a Game Boy, a Wii U or a Switch out for the day and keep the game going from anywhere. Palworld is a fun game, but it’s currently chained to PCs and consoles, foregoing the on-the-go experience its inspiration offers.

Not only that, but moving to a whole new platform will bring a huge number of new players into the series. Studies show that a staggering number of people play games almost exclusively on a mobile and that is a whole demographic of consumers Pocketpair can target by bringing Palworld to the App Store.

To sweeten the deal for longtime Palworld fans, cross progression would be a must. A lot of games offer it these days, and it’s no longer the tall task it was ten or even five years ago. Cross progression between platforms is almost expected in a lot of cases. By allowing current players to keep their progress on the mobile version of the game, the developers would be able to have a massive audience built right in as soon as the app releases.

Little has been officially announced about Palworld‘s progress in moving to a mobile platform, but it’s hard to deny that it makes a lot of sense to do so now that most mobile devices can handle the necessary specs to run the game. It fills the void in the mobile experience that the Switch would have offered, it opens the series up to a whole new audience of gamers, and it represents an opportunity to get the already-large fan base further invested in the franchise.