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Palworld Addresses ‘Pokemon With Guns’ Description

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On April 10, 2025

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Summary

Pocketpair’s communications director doesn’t like the “Pokemon with guns” label but acknowledges that it played a key role in Palworld’s popularity.
Despite comparisons with Pokemon, the director revealed that Palworld was actually inspired by ARK, with the goal of offering more unique and personality-driven creature experiences.
He encourages players to try Palworld for themselves to see that it’s much more than just “Pokemon with guns.”

The Pocketpair communications director has admitted the team doesn’t like Palworld being described as “Pokemon with guns.” Since its release, players haven’t been able to avoid drawing comparisons between Palworld and Pokemon, due to the look of its creatures and the monster-taming mechanic—though Pocketpair isn’t really fond of the comparison.

Palworld was a surprising success in 2024, with the game reaching over 32 million players across various platforms by February 2025. In the game, players must battle, capture, and utilize “Pals” for different tasks such as base building, combat, and exploration. Although its mechanics and visuals may resemble elements of the widely popular Pokemon franchise, Palworld sets itself apart with the introduction of firearms, allowing both Pals and players to fight using these kinds of weapons. These elements have led the community to refer to Palworld as “Pokemon with guns,” a label Pocketpair isn’t too happy about.

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As reported by IGN, during the Game Developers Conference in March 2025, Pocketpair’s communications director and publishing manager, John Buckley, opened up about the team’s stance on the popular description labeling Palworld as just Pokemon with guns. As Buckley recalled, following the game’s reveal in June 2021, the audience responded very positively—though it was “very quickly branded” that way. The director admitted that although the team has made incredible efforts to “shake that off,” the label still lingers, and the team is not “super happy about it.”

Palworld Developer Isn’t Happy About the ‘Pokemon with Guns’ Description

Later, Buckley told IGN where the inspiration for Palworld actually came from, revealing that the studio tried to implement some ideas from ARK. Buckley explained that one of the things Pocketpair liked was how ARK places a strong emphasis on dinosaurs—and that was exactly what the studio wanted to do, but with a twist. The director aimed to create creatures with “more personality, more abilities, more uniqueness.” However, despite the game’s actual inspiration, once the first Palworld trailer was released, the reviews immediately dubbed it “Pokemon with guns.”

Even though Pocketpair isn’t happy about the description, Buckley admitted that the label did help make Palworld very popular. He also commented that he doesn’t mind fans referring to the game that way, admitting that what the team does dislike is when people actually believe that’s all the game is. He encouraged players to give it a try to see that Palworld has much more to offer. For those who haven’t played it yet, the game is available on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation, with the door still open for a potential port to the upcoming Switch 2.