Palworld to Leave Early Access in 2026, Pocketpair Promises Major 1.0 Update

palworld

Palworld, the breakout indie hit of 2024, will leave Early Access and launch as a full release in 2026, developer Pocketpair has confirmed.

The open-world survival crafting game is slated to release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Xbox One, and PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store.

Breakout Hit of 2024

Palworld first entered Early Access on January 19, 2024, for Xbox Series, Xbox One, and PC. A PlayStation 5 version followed on September 24, 2024. Despite launching in an already crowded survival-crafting space, the game quickly became one of the biggest indie success stories of the decade.

The game sold over 5 million copies in just three days and reached 8 million sales within six days, breaking into Steam’s all-time concurrent player charts just behind PUBG and Counter-Strike 2. By the end of its first month, Palworld had amassed 25 million players across Steam and Xbox, and by February 2025, that number had climbed to 32 million players worldwide.

According to estimates based on sales data and pricing, Palworld generated nearly $500 million in less than two months.

Developer Roadmap Toward 1.0

Pocketpair’s communications director and publishing manager, Bucky, addressed the community in a recent video update. He acknowledged that while the team has "a lot of ideas for where we want to take Palworld," the priority now is preparing the game for "a polished 1.0 release."

"Palworld has a lot of quirks and jank," Bucky admitted, noting that the developers plan to dedicate the rest of 2025 to refining systems, cleaning up bugs, and laying the groundwork for a more stable experience. He added that updates will continue, though smaller in scale, throughout the year, with a few "surprises" planned for the upcoming winter update.

Pocketpair also emphasized that development is "not slowing down" but instead shifting toward long-term improvements. "Palworld 1.0 will be a major milestone for us, and we have a truly massive amount of content planned," Bucky said.

Controversy and Legal Challenges

Palworld’s meteoric rise hasn’t been without controversy. The game has faced sustained criticism for its creature designs, which some fans and critics claim too closely resemble Pokémon. The debate escalated when Nintendo filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair, though not over the creature designs directly. Instead, the lawsuit targeted gameplay mechanics such as switching between mounts and rideable creatures, features Nintendo argued overlapped with its intellectual property.

Pocketpair has already altered some gameplay features, including removing a Poké Ball–style capture animation and reworking gliding mechanics, calling them “disappointing compromises” made to reduce legal risks.

Further controversy has arisen around claims that generative AI was used in the creation of certain designs. While no concrete evidence has surfaced, suspicion stems from Pocketpair’s history with AI: Art Imposter, a previous project openly built on AI art tools.

Looking Ahead

With 2026 set as the official launch window for Palworld 1.0, the next year will be quieter in terms of major updates. But Pocketpair insists this is all part of a bigger plan to deliver a refined, content-rich experience when the full release finally arrives.

For now, fans can look forward to smaller seasonal updates, a winter patch with a few surprises, and if sales are anything to go by an even bigger wave of attention once Palworld steps out of Early Access.