Palworld has taken the gaming world by storm since its release at the start of 2024. And with good reason too! From great graphics and immersive gameplay to the low purchase price and lack of microtransactions, it is hard not to like this game! It also fills that unique hole of being somewhere between a classic survival game like DayZ and that “little-known” monster-taming game, Pokémon! Of course, with this incredible surge in popularity and its similarities to Pokémon, this has quickly drawn a narrative that Palworld is a Pokémon killer, however, I just don’t buy it!
Pokémon is more than just a game, it is a cultural revolution with a deep history going back to the mid-1990s, and even further back to the creator’s childhood games of collecting bugs in his garden. It has spawned a huge number of spinoffs such as the cards, Pokémon Go, movies, and even collectible figurines. Even its other rivals such as Digimon and Dragon Quest have come nowhere near the success of Pokémon. And that’s all before we even consider the deep nostalgia value that the older fanbase places in the game.
Although I do concede that Pokémon could learn a thing or two from Palworld, with recent games feeling a bit tired and Palworld already breaking Steam records for the number of concurrent players. It is hard to get past all these strong defensive moats that Pokémon has around its brand. In this article, we are going to explore these ideas further and maybe even convince a few doubters along the way!
Table of Contents
The Rise of Pokémon and a Connection to the Past
The founder of Pokémon, Satoshi Tajiri, came up with the idea behind Pokémon during his early childhood where he gained the nickname of Doctor Bug due to a passion for collecting creatures outside in his garden. He would eventually combine this hobby with a love of Kaiju monsters and Gashapon Machines from Japanese culture to come up with the idea for the game.
Although Nintendo initially sent him home to work on his idea a bit more, along with a name change from Capsule Monsters, the Pokémon we know today would eventually hit Japanese stores in 1996 with the release of Pokémon Red and Blue. The rise from there has been meteoric with cards, TV shows, and a plethora of new handheld games.
For many, Pokémon has become more than just another game. It forms a core part of their childhood games. Indeed, I distinctly remember getting Pokémon Red for Christmas in 1999 and spending the next few weeks pouring my time into it and trading with my friend, who got Pokémon Blue, for the version exclusives. Like many others, this was the gateway drug into the TCG, with a collection I would get back into in adulthood, and a loyalty to all future game releases. It is hard to explain the joy I and many others from my generation get when playing these games. This is something Palworld will never be able to rival regardless of how good the gameplay is.
Innovation
One of the biggest criticisms of recent Pokémon games is that they have been very stale and this is hard to disagree with. Indeed, Palworld certainly fills a void that many Pokémon players would like to see filled, and that is more open-world gameplay. The recent Pokémon games have tried to do this somewhat but just haven’t quite pulled it off with a world that still seems a little too restrictive for the modern era. In particular, interactions with other characters in the world feel far too monotonous and the game can generally be completed with the simple tactic of only ever using one Pokémon who you turn into an absolute machine.
However, Pokémon has shown the ability to innovate throughout its lifecycle and perhaps Palworld has given it the kick it needs to take that next step during its current malaise. Indeed, Pokémon was one of the first games on the Game Boy to fully realize the potential of the connecting cable for trading and battling, day/nighttime cycles, released 2 different versions of the same game, saw great success with a movie and TV show spinoff that many have tried and failed to replicate, and also brought out Pokémon Go, one of the most memorable mobile games around for bringing augmented reality into the mainstream.
Time will of course be the judge, but I find it hard to imagine that we will not see a huge shift in the Pokémon world and environment within near future releases. Palworld will certainly have given them a wake-up call here as to what people want and they absolutely have the resources to pull it off!
Similarities but also Vast Differences
Although Pokémon and Palworld overlap in some aspects such as the Monster Taming, they are still pretty different games that will appeal to different people. Indeed, the Venn diagram of both their player bases is almost certainly not an exact fit. Palworld has that survival aspect that players of games such as DayZ and Rust will particularly like, but this is something Pokémon has never tried to do, and nor should it.
Pokémon has a cozier and more innocent feel to it. It is not a stressful game to play. There are of course some sweaty things you can get into such as breeding programmes for perfect IVs, but the mainstream will probably go as far as getting all the badges and at a push completing the Pokédex. Palworld may steal a few players from Pokémon but there is enough difference here that I really don’t think the overlap between the two player bases is as large as people think it is.
Never Write Pokémon Off
The narrative that has unfolded since the release of Palworld seems to have verged into “Pokémon is dead” territory. This is of course nonsense. The world is big enough for two successful games that have you catching monsters. Indeed, it is hard to argue with the success of Palword for a game on its budget and also the sheer speed with which it has amassed its enormous player base.
However, as I have discussed, Pokémon is a beast in its own right. People will keep playing Pokémon for its nostalgia value alone and new players will keep coming to it as it continues to innovate or as they discover it through its other strong spinoffs such as the TCG, Pokémon Go, and even Pokémon Snap! I am not arguing that Palworld is not a good game, in fact, I really enjoy it myself. I just can’t ever see it taking the crown from Pokémon as the best monster tamer in the business. Pokémon is one you will never catch!
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