Support NeoGAF

[Spyxos]

According to Mizobe, Palworld cost ¥1 billion to develop or, roughly $6.75 million in today’s US dollars. That said, he didn’t want to worry about the cost of the game.

“It would be impossible for a decent company to develop a game without managing the budget,” he said. “Pocket Pair is not a decent company.”

Mizobe said he didn’t feel managing a budget was worth the cost in effort. He also said that, at the start, he didn’t want to build a “major game”. Palworld was originally supposed to be built and finished within a year because of not having the desire to work on the same things for years.

“The company Pocket Pair is clearly not suitable for making large titles,” he said, mentioning that, at the time, there were only 10 employees. “I didn’t have that image at all.”

Mizobe ended up creating a team of four at first to start work on the game. The goal, he said, was to “make it quickly, release it immediately, and see how users react.”

“ became clear that in order to realize the game that we had envisioned, there was not enough manpower, money, or development time,” he said.
That’s when he decide it wasn’t worth actually budgeting the game.
“The budget cap starts with a zero balance in your bank account. When it reaches zero, you can borrow money,” he said. “In that case, do you need to manage your budget?”

Mizobe said that they would borrow money and kept working on the game, hiring people and building out what they wanted Palworld to be no matter the cost.

In the three years since the decision, 40 more people have been hired to work on Palworld while the studio outsourced even more help.

“t’s still barely ready to go into Early Access, and it’s far from truly complete,” Mizobe says. “For the time being, it is in a state where it can be put out into the world.”

Palworld Cost One Billion Yen To Make And The CEO Didn't Want To Budget Money

Palworld cost a lot of money to make and Pocket Pair CEO Takuro Mizobe didn't want to manage any of it, according to the man himself.

insider-gaming.com

 

[Arsic]

Huh?

 

[Mikado]

I like this guy already.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Huh?

I agree, say what?

 

[FoxMcChief]

Ok

 

[SJRB]

Right on.

 

[Draugoth]

The guy is super based: "We know that we are receiving death threats, but we don't care"

 

[jshackles]

When you run out of money - just keep borrowing more money. Game companies hate this one simple trick!

 

[Clintizzle]

im assuming its a translation thing when he says "Pocket Pals is not a decent company"?

Like it meant we are not a big enough company to fully look into budgets etc.

 

[Magic Carpet]

When you run out of money - just keep borrowing more money. Game companies hate this one simple trick!

Works for the United States Goverment. Trillions.

 

[Guilty_AI]

im assuming its a translation thing when he says "Pocket Pals is not a decent company"?

i have a feeling it isn't.

 

[CherryFalls]

When you run out of money - just keep borrowing more money. Game companies hate this one simple trick!

Infinite money glitch

 

[NonPhixion]

They also saved some budget money by reusing/reworking assets from their other games.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

became clear that in order to realize the game that we had envisioned, there was not enough manpower, money, or development time

Does this explain why they seemingly stole 3D models directly from Pokémon?

 

[TransTrender]

$6.75M USD seems like a drop in the bucket these days.

 

[jshackles]

$6.75M USD seems like a drop in the bucket these days.

5,000,000 copies at $27 each (minus Valve's 30% cut) = $94,500,000 = ¥13,998,899,250

I think they'll be fine

 

[Spukc]

10 things you would never believe palworld is doing to nintendo

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Fascinating how this game is gaining momentum and everybody's talking about it. A bit OT here, but: Do we know if the developer used AI to speed up the development process?

 

[tusharngf]

yeah this is what people want. Small games and less development time.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Works for the United States Goverment. Trillions.

That's because you need scale for it to work.

 

[StueyDuck]

Now we are in the "good guy Phil spencer" phase of the marketing...

 

[March Climber]

Now we are in the "good guy Phil spencer" phase of the marketing...

I still hope a question mark reaction emoji is added one day to GAF.

Surprised Pikachu face isn’t descriptive enough of a person’s bewilderment to a post.

 

[StueyDuck]

I still hope a question mark reaction emoji is added one day to GAF.

Surprised Pikachu face isn’t descriptive enough of a person’s bewilderment to a post.

Have you not been keeping up with anything palworld.

It's been a non stop barage of ingenuis marketing for a pretty bang average unimaginative game.

First it was the pokemon angle, then their was social media "outrage", then they jumped onto console wars with an xbox exclusive in Korea and now the CEO comes out and says all the "right things" to look like a good guy.

One of the best marketing teams currently in gaming is pushing this title and its making its money back and then some

 

[Hudo]

I still don't get the appeal of the game but good for them.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

They also saved some budget money by reusing/reworking assets from their other games.

Still salty?

 

[hlm666]

5,000,000 copies at $27 each (minus Valve's 30% cut) = $94,500,000 = ¥13,998,899,250

I think they'll be fine

Valve will only be taking 25% after 10 mil and then 20% after 50 mil so they'll even scrape a bit extra from between the cushions.

 

[Ribi]

They also saved some budget money by reusing/reworking assets from their other games.

but enough about FROM software

 

[Daneel Elijah]

I still hope a question mark reaction emoji is added one day to GAF.

Surprised Pikachu face isn’t descriptive enough of a person’s bewilderment to a post.

This and the exclamation mark from MGS. They would be perfect.

 

[KaiserBecks]

Accountants hate this guy. See how he develops a game with this one simple trick.

 

[Griffon]

He got lucky with the sales numbers he got. Could've ended up with yakuza collectors breaking his knees and more.

 

[RagnarokIV]

Fucken funny guy and I love his honest attitude.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

This CEO is my hero, he exemplifies

 

[Harlock]

 

[Ozriel]

Have you not been keeping up with anything palworld.

It's been a non stop barage of ingenuis marketing for a pretty bang average unimaginative game.

First it was the pokemon angle, then their was social media "outrage", then they jumped onto console wars with an xbox exclusive in Korea and now the CEO comes out and says all the "right things" to look like a good guy.

One of the best marketing teams currently in gaming is pushing this title and its making its money back and then some

No. The game went viral for the simple reason that people who are actually playing this are having a good time.

And then there’s you who hasn’t played it and seems motivated to attack it relentlessly for whatever reason.

The Pokémon angle has been known for years, with the first trailer released two years ago. It wasn’t exactly soaring on the Steam wishlists at the time, until it went viral after Twitch streamers got a hold of it.

then they jumped onto console wars with an xbox exclusive in Korea

 

[Guilty_AI]

Have you not been keeping up with anything palworld.

It's been a non stop barage of ingenuis marketing for a pretty bang average unimaginative game.

First it was the pokemon angle, then their was social media "outrage", then they jumped onto console wars with an xbox exclusive in Korea and now the CEO comes out and says all the "right things" to look like a good guy.

One of the best marketing teams currently in gaming is pushing this title and its making its money back and then some

Whatever you're smoking i want some.

 

[Schmick]

Have you not been keeping up with anything palworld.

It's been a non stop barage of ingenuis marketing for a pretty bang average unimaginative game.

First it was the pokemon angle, then their was social media "outrage", then they jumped onto console wars with an xbox exclusive in Korea and now the CEO comes out and says all the "right things" to look like a good guy.

One of the best marketing teams currently in gaming is pushing this title and its making its money back and then some

On top of the fact that the game is fun to play, evident by the people actually playing the game and commenting on it.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Now we are in the "good guy Phil spencer" phase of the marketing...

If Phil wasn't born we wouldn't be talking about this. Bill gates could have been a centipede and not ceo

 

[nemiroff]

Have you not been keeping up with anything palworld.

It's been a non stop barage of ingenuis marketing for a pretty bang average unimaginative game.

First it was the pokemon angle, then their was social media "outrage", then they jumped onto console wars with an xbox exclusive in Korea and now the CEO comes out and says all the "right things" to look like a good guy.

One of the best marketing teams currently in gaming is pushing this title and its making its money back and then some

Yeah, how dare people simply enjoy this game when they could've put all their focus on the unhinged irrelevant diversions instead!

 

[Skifi28]

Bill gates could have been a centipede and not ceo

Why not both?

 

[BennyBlanco]

This CEO is my hero, he exemplifies

Look at their basic ass office. These boys just made 90M+.

I am curious where they will go from here. Do you just keep polishing and updating Palworld for years like Rust devs? Or finish it ASAP and move on?

 

[StueyDuck]

On top of the fact that the game is fun to play, evident by the people actually playing the game and commenting on it.

Yeah, how dare people simply enjoy this game when they could've put all their focus on the unhinged irrelevant diversions instead!

Again one of the best marketing teams in gaming right now.

 

[Ozriel]

Again one of the best marketing teams in gaming right now.

 

[Bernkastel]

Fascinating how this game is gaining momentum and everybody's talking about it. A bit OT here, but: Do we know if the developer used AI to speed up the development process?

Generative AI simply was not as advanced in 2021 (when it was revealed) as it is now. Even now creating a 3D model with LODs, and rigging, texturing and animating them is not something you can just do with AI.

 

[newtypepilot]

hahaha press X for doubt.

I am certain most of their budget was spent on marketing and not game development to ensure this game went viral. You'll be amazed at how many assets you can buy at the unreal or unity store. Their games, not just Palworld, are obvious clones, but they changed it just enough by frankenstein-ing a bunch of different mechanics and genres together so that it'll be hard to sue to them. There's nothing creative or original in their stuff. In fact, I think their business model is to churn out an iterative product to make a quick buck, and then repeat. They've taken those asset flips games to the next level, except that they are smart in taking only the good ideas from popular IPs and making sure it's polished on the surface.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Again one of the best marketing teams in gaming right now.

hahaha press X for doubt.

I am certain most of their budget was spent on marketing and not game development to ensure this game went viral. You'll be amazed at how many assets you can buy at the unreal or unity store. Their games, not just Palworld, are obvious clones, but they changed it just enough by frankenstein-ing a bunch of different mechanics and genres together so that it'll be hard to sue to them. There's nothing creative or original in their stuff. In fact, I think their business model is to churn out an iterative product to make a quick buck, and then repeat. They've taken those asset flips games to the next level, except that they are smart in taking only the good ideas from popular IPs and making sure it's polished on the surface.

Amazes me how there's people who think some until-a-few-days-ago no-name company from japan somehow secretly had a dream marketing team hidden all this time that could, on a low budget, create a world-wide phenomenon capable of breaking multiple records by a large margin out of scraps.

 

[NonPhixion]

Still salty?

Hahahaha an on the spectrum type response to my joke about current events.

 

[Interfectum]

These guys are like a molotov cocktail into the AAA gaming industry.

 

[Ozriel]

Amazes me how there's people who think some until-a-few-days-ago no-name company from japan somehow secretly had a dream marketing team hidden all this time that could, on a low budget, create a world-wide phenomenon capable of breaking multiple records by a large margin out of scraps.

“An insidious marketing plan that’s unknown to behemoths like EA, Ubisoft et al!
All Ubisoft and WB need to do is pay Pocket Pair some cash to let them in on the secret and Skull and Bones and Suicide Squad will be mega hits on Steam!”

 

[BlackTron]

Yeah there was hardly a plan, we were just going to make a bunch of games as fast as we could, and see what happens, never know which ones will work, or even be allowed, an even better reason to use borrowed money, and stumbled into popularity which quite frankly we aren't set up to manage.

This is the most deadpan honest game exec interview that has ever taken place. I would shake his hand now and play the game. Just out of respect for there not being a single drop of bullshit anywhere.

We thought Kotick was already the ultimate game CEO but he left going "this isn't even my final form".

“Pocket Pair is not a decent company.”

Beautiful

 

[mckmas8808]

Accountants hate this guy. See how he develops a game with this one simple trick.

What trick is that?