Palworld Dev Signs Deal With Sony to Form Palworld Entertainment and Expand the IP – IGN

The developer of Palworld has signed a deal with Sony to form a new business called Palworld Entertainment to capitalize on the breakout success of the video game by expanding the IP.

Japan-based Pocketpair announced a joint venture with Sony Music Entertainment in Japan and Aniplex to establish Palworld Entertainment “for the purpose of accelerating the multifaceted global development of Palworld and its further expansion.”

This is not a publishing deal for Palworld the video game, or an acquisition by Sony, rather an attempt to make the most of the game’s huge popularity with non-video game products, such as merchandise and music. The newly formed business, headed up by Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe, is responsible for global licensing and merchandising activities associated with Palworld.

Palworld, dubbed ‘Pokémon with guns’, is a survival and crafting game that enjoyed record-breaking success after it launched in early access form across PC and Xbox in January.

The player count exceeded 25 million in a month, with Palworld becoming the biggest third-party Game Pass launch of all time and an incredible 15 million copies sold on Steam alone.

In March, Mizobe confirmed Palworld cost less than ¥1 billion ($6.7 million) to make, and had made tens of billions of yen in profit. For context, ¥10 billion is around $67.2 million. Mizobe admitted the profits were “too big for a studio with our size to handle.”

Palworld vs. Pokémon Comparison