Xbox Doesn’t Need Pokemon Thanks To Palworld

Move over, Master Chief, because Xbox has a new face of marketing: Palworld. This Pokemon-inspired survival-crafting game has been a runaway success, and Microsoft has been quick to capitalize on that fact. Posts promoting the game’s large Xbox playerbase (over 7,000,000, according to Xbox) have begun to appear on the company’s official X account. Considering Nintendo’s iron grasp on Pokemon and unwillingness to shed that IP’s exclusivity and open it up to other console markets, Microsoft no doubt loves that Pocketpair’s popular homage is doing big numbers. What does all this mean for Palworld‘s trajectory through early access and beyond?

Xbox and Palworld Is the Perfect Partnership

Perhaps the most astonishing thing about Palworld‘s success is that the game isn’t even finished. It’s an early access title, albeit a remarkably deep one. That means all the flaws and caveats that you’d expect. Glitches, frame drops, and falling through the world are all a thing, but none of that has dampened the hype around the game. It’s easy to see why. Palworld scratched an itch that some Pokemon players have felt for more than a decade. Even players who never got on board with Ash and Pikachu have found themselves drawn to the Palpagos Islands and their enthralling blend of crafting, base-building, and creature-collecting.

Any partnership between Pocketpair and Microsoft is an obvious win for both. The Palworld dev gets exposure and additional consoles for its game, which means more sales. In exchange, Microsoft gets the most popular creature-collecting game after Pokemon, which Nintendo was never going to give up anyway. Palworld is scheduled to remain in early access for about a year as the devs continue to refine and expand upon the game’s content for Xbox and PC alike. Microsoft doesn’t need to buy the company for Palworld to massively benefit here. Even if appearing on Game Pass is the closest Pocketpair comes to an official union with Microsoft, that’s excellent news for players.

Palwold is available for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in early access.