Palworld Creators Deny 'Pokemon With Guns' Tag

What comes to mind when you hear "Palworld"? For the developers behind it, the answer is often a bit frustrating: "Pokémon with guns."

When the game first surged in popularity, that phrase became the internet’s go-to description—helping its rise thanks to the unexpected mix of two contrasting ideas. Even we at IGN used it, just like everyone else. It was an easy way for newcomers to grasp the concept immediately.

But according to John ‘Bucky’ Buckley, Pocketpair’s communications director and publishing manager, "Pokémon with guns" was never the intended message. In fact, he admits that the studio isn’t particularly fond of the label. He shared these thoughts during a talk at the Game Developers Conference last month, reflecting on Palworld’s breakout moment back in 2021.

"We unveiled the game in June 2021—several years ago now. Our trailer debuted at Indie Live Expo, an indie gaming event in Japan. It received a very warm welcome from Japanese audiences. But soon, Western media caught wind of the project, and we were quickly branded, even back then, as a ‘certain franchise’ with guns. That tag has stuck with us ever since, despite our best efforts to move past it."

After his presentation, I sat down with Buckley and asked him to expand on this point. He explained that Pokémon wasn’t really part of the original vision. While many on the development team are fans of the series and recognized the monster-collecting similarities, their main goal was to create something closer to ARK: Survival Evolved.

"A lot of us are huge ARK fans. Our earlier game, Craftopia, already included some mechanics and ideas we loved from ARK," he noted. "So we wanted to build on that and go bigger. One thing about ARK is that everything revolves around dinosaurs—some are cute, some are fierce. But we wanted each creature to have more personality, more abilities, more uniqueness. So the pitch was: Let’s make something like ARK, but with stronger automation and creatures that feel truly special. Then we released that first trailer, and this label appeared. We weren’t thrilled, but you have to roll with it."

When I asked whether the "Pokémon with guns" nickname actually fueled Palworld’s success, Buckley admitted it played a role.

"Yeah, it was definitely a big part of the conversation," he said. "Dave [Oshry] from New Blood Interactive even reached out—he’d trademarked 'Pokemonwithguns.com' and similar domains. All that buzz definitely helped fuel the hype, which is fair enough.

"Even now in 2025, if people want to call it that, it’s okay. What does bother us a little is when people firmly believe that’s all the game is. But if you actually play it, the experience isn’t even close to that description. So if you still call it that after playing, fine—but we’d prefer if people gave it a genuine try first."

Buckley also doesn’t see Pokémon as meaningful competition. "I don’t think the player bases overlap that much," he explained, again pointing to ARK as a closer comparison. In fact, he feels Palworld isn’t really competing with any specific game—not even Helldivers 2, which a "very significant" portion of Palworld players also purchased at launch.

"I’ve gotten in trouble before for ranting about 'console wars,' but I think competition in gaming is often manufactured—like a meta-marketing strategy," he said. "With so many games available today, how can you really compete with just one or two? It doesn’t make much sense anymore. For us, timing matters more than anything."

So if "Pokémon with guns" is off the table, what would Buckley have wanted to go viral instead?

"I’d probably pitch it as: ‘Palworld: It’s Kind of Like ARK Meets Factorio and Happy Tree Friends’ or something along those lines. That’s how I’d describe it."

I pointed out that doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as easily—and he agreed.

During our conversation, Buckley and I also discussed the potential for Palworld on the Nintendo Switch 2, whether Pocketpair might be acquired, and more. You can read the full interview here.