Palworld's CEO Firmly Rejects Acquisition Rumors

Last summer, Palworld developer Pocketpair entered into a significant partnership with Sony Music Entertainment to expand the Palworld universe beyond gaming into merchandise, music, and other products. This business agreement sparked speculation among fans, who mistakenly believed it signaled an impending acquisition, especially following earlier rumors of Pocketpair's potential acquisition by Microsoft.

Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe later clarified that those acquisition rumors were unfounded at the time, yet the conversation around Pocketpair's future continued to buzz. This was fueled by Microsoft's aggressive acquisition strategy across the AA gaming industry and their interest in Japanese developers, as well as Sony's own moves in the acquisition space.

So, could Pocketpair ever be acquired? The decision ultimately rests with Mizobe. However, during a conversation at last month's Game Developers Conference, Pocketpair's communications director and publishing manager, John 'Bucky' Buckley, firmly dismissed the likelihood of an acquisition.

"Our CEO would never allow it," Buckley stated emphatically. "He'd never allow it. He likes doing his own thing and being his own boss. He doesn't like people telling him what to do."

Buckley further elaborated, "So I would be shocked. Maybe when he's old, and he might just sell it off for money. And that would be sad, but in my lifetime, I probably won't see it. No, it'll be interesting to see where the two paths go. We, Pocketpair, are obviously only involved in where the game path is going. Palworld as an IP, we are involved, but it’s very much in the hands of Aniplex and Sony Music who are steering that ship right now. We are just offering our advice and thoughts as they take that."

In our interview, Buckley also discussed the potential of Palworld coming to the Nintendo Switch 2, the studio's response to the game being dubbed "Pokemon with guns", and more. You can dive into the full discussion [ttpp]here[ttpp].