Ever since Palworld exploded onto the scene, its monster designs have drawn heavy comparisons to Pokémon, leading to the internet's favorite shorthand: "Pokémon with guns." While the catchy moniker undoubtedly fueled its viral rise, the development team isn't exactly thrilled about it.
During this year's Game Developers Conference (GDC), John "Bucky" Buckley, PR & Marketing Manager at Palworld developer Pocketpair, admitted the "Pokémon with guns" label has stuck since the game's initial reveal in 2021. He acknowledged its attention-grabbing power but stressed it wasn't the team's original vision.
"We actually wanted to make a game like Ark: Survival Evolved, but with automation and more characterful creature designs, not Pokémon," Buckley explained.
Buckley pointed out that while many team members are indeed Pokémon fans and recognize the "monster-catching" similarities, the overall gameplay and style are far closer to a blend of Ark: Survival Evolved and Factorio. He emphasized, "Many people think Palworld is just Pokémon plus guns, but once you actually play it, you'll realize that's not the case at all."
"A lot of us are huge fans of Ark: Survival Evolved. Even our previous game, Craftopia, took some ideas from Ark: Survival Evolved. So we wanted to create a game that was bigger and more evolved than Ark: Survival Evolved."
"We loved the dinosaurs in Ark: Survival Evolved – some cute, some cool – but we wanted to make these creatures more individual, with more skills and a stronger sense of character. That was our initial concept. But when we released the first trailer, that label just appeared. We weren't really happy about that name, but that's how things went."
He also conceded that the nickname undeniably helped the game grab massive attention, with some industry insiders even registering related websites like "pokemonwithguns.com" to capitalize on the buzz. However, he urged players not to judge the game based solely on impressions. "It's fine to comment after playing, but please don't be misled by the label," he advised.
"Even in 2025, people will still describe it that way, and we've accepted it. But what makes us a little sad is that many people genuinely believe that's how the game plays. Once you actually play it, you'll find it's not like that at all, so we hope everyone will give it a try before judging."
As for an ideal tagline? Buckley chuckled, "I'd probably call it something like 'Palworld: Where Ark: Survival Evolved Meets Factorio and Happy Tree Friends,' but that's not exactly easy to say."
via： IGN