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Former Nintendo Intern's Game Studio Shatters Records: 6 Million Copies Sold in Just 4 Days

692 View2024-01-23

What happened?

Palworld

8.7

Open World Survival CraftSandboxSurvivalActionCreature CollectorCraftingRPGPvE

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Just a month into 2024, the online gaming arena has already been shaken by a dark horse - a title that's not just a surprise hit, but a veritable titan, Palworld. With its debut on Xbox Game Pass, it sold a staggering 6 million copies in three days and reached a peak of 1.3 million concurrent players on Steam.

So, what exactly is this game that's causing such a stir?

Well, that's a bit tricky to answer.

At its core, Palworld, often discussed as a 'Pokémon killer' is actually closer in spirit to Survival Evolved. Players start in an open world teeming with Pals, evolving from basic survival - gathering resources, crafting tools and weapons, building houses, and trading firearms - to advanced challenges and cooperative gameplay that involves forestry, mining, and battling.

Palworld features a comprehensive ecosystem of Pals and a capture system similar to Pokémon. Players can capture almost any Pal they can defeat, as well as hatch eggs and merge creatures to build a powerful final lineup. The difference, however, is that these Pals not only fight alongside players but also assist in gathering resources and crafting items. Some players even turn their homes into brutal Pal sweatshops in a pursuit of efficiency.

Despite seeming like a simple mashup, the road to successfully blending the Pokémon and ARK: Survival Evolved experiences is fraught with challenges. Over the years, many have tried, but few have succeeded. After all, making a successful hybrid game is an art in itself.

Take, for instance, the Pal "Fire Fox". As a combat companion, it uses a variety of fiery abilities. That's pretty standard.

But when you unlock a special harness, you can literally hold it in your arms, transforming it into a flamethrower!

Pals themselves are no mere sidekicks. Apart from their natural abilities, they can be armed to the teeth and even form a firepower squad.

But the most legendary part of Palworld's story actually unfolds outside the game.

Just three days before the game's release, Mizobe from the developing team Pocketpair posted a lengthy article on the NOTE platform, detailing the team's journey and outlining the six miracles they experienced:

A story so unbelievable that it could be a movie plot.

Eight years ago, when creating their first game, Pocketpair was a three-person team. Mizobe, then a Nintendo intern, was deeply moved by the game development process but frustrated by the inefficiencies of large companies. Like many legendary tales, he left the corporate world, teamed up with university buddies, and embarked on an entrepreneurial journey – only to be crushed by traditional business, unable to find any investors or publishers.

Most companies would have given up, but Steam, run by Gabe from Steam, operates differently. Here, anyone can publish a game, and its success is left to the players. Six months later, Overdungeon launched on Steam, received hundreds of user reviews, and sold 100,000 copies.

Mizobe then sold the rights to Overdungeon and invested everything in their next game, Craftopia. At that time, Pocketpair was a seven-person team, with three members still outsourcing. Yet, with such limited manpower, they mastered the art of hybrid gaming and earned a 90% positive user rating (currently 78%, more on that later).

Craftopia had its flaws, which we'll discuss later, but let's focus on Palworld's six miracles first.

Craftopia

8.9

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Miracle 1: A 20-year-old convenience store worker, who turns out to be an all-round model animation wizard.

Finding someone in Japan with FPS/TPS development experience is tough, not just for indie games, but even for big titles. But Mizobe managed to spot a peculiar Twitter account showcasing various gun reloading animations.

After some digging, Mizobe discovered that this guy had only a junior high school education and was working part-time at a convenience store, purely out of interest. He had learned FPS mechanics from gaming and engine tools from online tutorials. This “game otaku” was actually a'firearm animation hero', capable of handling Unreal Engine blueprints, motion graphics, photography, sound effects, and more, single-handedly managing the entire shooting production process.

Miracle 2: An Unreal Engine 4 engineer walked right into their office.

Initially, all of Pocketpair’s games were built on Unity. But one day, a technical expert with 10 years of experience reached out, wanting to join their team. The catch? He had never used Unity.

Shifting from Unity to UE4 is a bold move for any game team. Despite the benefits of updating the engine, the risks of starting from scratch and training the team were enormous.

But Mizobe won this bet too. The new recruit wasn’t just technically proficient; he also had exceptional team management skills, guiding the entire team of seven developers through the transition from Unity to UE4, successfully managing this epic task while keeping the team well-organized.

Miracle 3: When they lacked an action designer due to a significant development oversight, a top-tier motion artist just happened to walk in.

Why is Monster Hunter unparalleled? Why are the monster animations in Black Myth: Wukong so eye-catching? Monster skeletons and movements need specialized animations.

But Pocketpair’s team didn’t realize this. In their previous projects, most models came from online stores with pre-made skeletons and animations. Creating models and animations for over 100 Pals would have taken nearly 10 years.

Just when they realized this six months into development, Mizobe pulled off another miracle.

A recruitment agency recommended a senior motion artist. This expert not only reorganized their chaotic file management and naming conventions but also devised a system for mass-producing diverse alien body movement animations.

Miracle 4: Despite budget explosions and a tenfold increase in team size, the company didn't collapse.

As mentioned repeatedly, Pocketpair was a small indie game team. When Palworld started, they only had 10 people, with just 4 working on the project.

But as the game gained traction, and with various development challenges, Mizobe realized the project's true potential. The development period stretched from 1 to 3 years, the team grew from 4 to over 40 people plus numerous contractors, and the budget exceeded 1 billion yen (about $4.8 million USD).

Despite this precarious cash flow situation, Mizobe kept the company from falling apart and saw the project through to completion.

Miracle 5: A superstar freshman as the lead artist.

This freshman was initially rejected by Pocketpair, as her distinct personal style didn’t quite fit with the more neutral design needs of a small team like Palworld.

But on her second application, Mizobe decided to give her a chance. And yes, he found another gem.

This newcomer could produce artwork at four to five times the rate of a regular artist, completing most modification requests from other departments in under a minute, and was proficient in English, understanding international community culture and most memes.Her involvement was crucial for the team to design over 100 Pals.

As for Miracle 6, Mizobe humbly claimed that creating a genuinely fun game was the real miracle.

This perspective might be subjective, but it highlights the team's passion and creativity.

However, Pocketpair's journey wasn't without its struggles. Their reliance on public paid resources led to excessive “stitching” and risks, as these assets often imitated designs from well-known games.

For instance, a church in Palworld closely resembled one in Elden Ring, with unnecessary similarities that could be seen as more than just homage.

ELDEN RING

9.6

Souls-likeOpen World RPGDark Fantasy

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These challenges, mostly stemming from the use of public resources, were overshadowed by Palworld's success and the team's willingness to embrace their identity as a hybrid game developer. However, this cost-saving approach also led to maintenance issues. Craftopia's positive rating fell from 95% to 87%, mainly due to slow updates and focus on new game development, leaving previous players feeling betrayed.

In the end, Mizobe's all-in approach paid off with the phenomenal success of Palworld. Let's hope that as Pocketpair grows, they will leave behind the small-team mentality and focus on better updates to support their loyal players.