“Survival crafting is a very unique genre. It’s a very Steam genre, for all its woes and highs,” he said. “There’s so many incredible, incredible survival crafting games, but I think every survival crafting gamer has their like ideal version of what survival crafting should be, and we hope Palworld 1.0 will be that kind of something for everyone, lose yourself in this world, survival crafting game.” He went on to say that, “Palworld is going to be the survival crafting game everyone always wanted.”

While he was still coy about the exact details of the new content coming to Palworld’s 1.0 release, Buckley did note that the update will polish and flesh out just about every single aspect of the game. This also means that players will have the choice of jumping into the game with their old characters, or starting afresh. However, the studio does recommend starting from scratch, thanks simply to the large amount of changes that will be made to the entire game.

“It’s still quite top secret,” said Buckley about the 1.0 update. “There’s gonna be things that surprise people. I think people will be shocked by what we’ve been able to achieve for 1.0. 1.0 is going to fall at kind of a weird point for players. You can jump into 1.0 with your existing character if you want to. We’re not force wiping anyone. You can jump in. But we are going to kind of softly recommend you start from scratch, because kind of everything is going to change from the beginning to the end – It’s all going to change.”

As for players who want to continue their existing saves, Buckley explained that “a huge chunk of quote unquote end game content will be added.” This means that “if you really want to continue from where you left off, sure you’re not missing out on the full experience, but you are missing out on some things. We’ve tried our best to expand everything. Not just the end game, but also improve the early game, add more to the early game, flesh out the middle game, kind of something for everyone, really.”

As for the studio’s plans for after the 1.0 update is released, Buckley spoke about how Pocketpair doesn’t have any plans to turn Palworld into a No Man’s Sky-styled situation.

“A lot of our hardcore fans and players would love for Palworld to be this No Man’s Sky situation where it’s like a decade of continuous, massive updates,” he explained. “But realistically, that’s probably not on the cards for Palworld, not only because of engine limitations, but also, it’s a survival crafting game. I think there’s only so many times you can add five levels, add 10 levels, until it gets to this massive bloat point.”

Palworld is available on PC, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.

“A lot of our hardcore fans and players would love for Palworld to be this No Man’s Sky situation where it’s like a decade of continuous, massive updates,” he said. “But realistically, that’s probably not on the cards for Palworld, not only because of engine limitations, but also, it’s a survival crafting game. I think there’s only so many times you can add five levels, add 10 levels, until it gets to this massive bloat point.”

He also noted that offering long-time support to a game centered around progression systems is difficult for studios. Bringing up MMORPG World of Warcraft, Buckley pointed out the fact that it has seen a few stat squishes over the years, allowing the developers and players to find in-game numbers like health, damage, and stats more manageable and easier to parse. However, if Palworld wasn’t based around linear progression systems, No Man’s Sky-styled “forever” support could have been possible.

“Even World of Warcraft had that stat squish years and years ago,” he explained. “Palworld is linear progression. I think if Palworld didn’t have that progression, you could do it forever like No Man’s Sky. But it’s gonna have to stop at some point, and then we can think about what comes after, and that’s exciting for us.”

However, this doesn’t mean that Palworld’s 1.0 release will mark the end of major content drops either. Buckley even went as far as to say that a Palworld 2.0 is even possible in the future. However, it remains contingent on Pocketpair coming up with ideas that don’t feel “boring”.

“I wouldn’t rule out a Palworld 2.0,” he said. “It really depends on what we can do with the game at the moment, how we can expand it without it feeling boring. Not only boring, but how we can expand it while also being approachable.”

He went on to note that, at a certain point, post-launch support for Palworld will have to come to an end so that casual players don’t start feeling like the game is a chore. “That’s where it gets tricky with 2.0,” he explained. “And we get into the big debate of, do you continue to expand Palworld and find a way to mitigate those problems? Or do you start thinking about – I won’t say the word because I don’t want to speak it into existence – something beyond Palworld?”

However, ultimately, “100% of Pocketpair right now is working on Palworld 1.0”, according to Buckley. The monster-taming survival game is currently available as an Early Access game across PC, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, check out what the studio has to say about how Palworld 1.0 is shaping up.

That’s not all, as concept art of several new Pals was showcased, from what seems to be an Electric-type lion cub to a fish that can separate its head from its body to attack with a bladed spinal cord. However, perhaps most intriguing is the whale seen at the end, which dwarfs the player to an incredible degree.

It’s heading towards the World Tree – a key part of Update 1.0 that makes up the game’s ending scenario. Players will venture inside, and one can only guess what secrets await, but don’t worry – Pocketpair plans to continue support. “While the World Tree will mark the conclusion of this particular journey, it’s by no means the end of Palworld,” said Buckley last year.

Outside of the World Tree and new Pals, it’s unknown what we can expect in 1.0, which launches later this year, so stay tuned for more sneak peeks and teasers. Palworld is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. It crossed 32 million players as of February 2025, so you can bet that figure is even higher now (though the developer hasn’t confirmed as much).

“Interestingly, just a little industry knowledge for all you gamers, a November 19 launch puts them outside the nomination window for most games awards in 2026. Intentional or…? Either way, expect to see many games (especially AAA ones) swerve to avoid the 2027 awards season,” he said on Twitter.

Granted, he’s likely referring to The Game Awards, which announces nominations around mid-November before the ceremony in December. This doesn’t stop other publications and outlets from including the title in their awards.

It’s also unlikely that major publishers are really considering awards when it comes to the timing of releases. Case in point: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which launched a few days before last year’s The Game Awards and went on to become a huge success. So while Grand Theft Auto 6 may sweep the 2027 TGAs, it’s a loss that most developers are probably okay with taking if it means their games can thrive in sales.

In the order, Squires writes that he has “determined that substantial new questions of patentability have arisen,” referencing prior publications known as Yabe and Taura, older patents describing scenarios where a companion fights alongside the player, either automatically or under manual input. That framing challenges whether Nintendo’s newly granted US 12,403,397 (filed in 2023, granted September 2025) meaningfully advances the state of the art or is already anticipated by past work.

The review follows weeks of criticism from IP commentators who argued the grant appeared overly broad and insufficiently tested against decades of games with similar mechanics. Reporting has also emphasized how rare it is for a USPTO director to intervene without a third party formally petitioning, a sign that the office wants to stress-test the patent before it cascades into wider enforcement. While the application is discussed through a Pokémon lens, its language is platform-agnostic, which is why developers across genres have watched this case closely.

What happens next is procedural: examiners revisit the claims against cited prior art; Nintendo can amend or argue; and the office may confirm, narrow, or invalidate portions of the patent. For now, nothing changes legally, but the burden of proof has shifted back to the rights holder to showcase why these claims should stand as written.

Bottom line: If prior art holds, expect this patent to be narrowed, reducing risk for look-alike mechanics. If it survives largely intact, Nintendo gains a potent lever in future disputes.

According to Game Fray’s Florian Mueller, this rejection has presented Nintendo two choices: the company can either abandon the patent application, or try to persuade the patent examiner with a modified version of the patent application that has been submitted again with amended claims. The second choice, notes Mueller, is the more likely outcome in this scenario. Generally speaking, this rejection isn’t expected to have any direct impact on the lawsuit Nintendo has filed against Pocketpair.

Mueller also notes that JPO’s decision even if it weren’t non-final, wouldn’t be binding for the sake of the lawsuit, which is being presided over by judge Motoyuki Nakashima. At most, the proceedings for the lawsuit have been delayed. There is also the question of Nintendo’s moves from earlier this year where it sought a modification to one of its patent filings in the middle of its litigation processes. There are also wider ramifications for the lawsuit owing to the fact that “he patent examiner is now looking at real-world games as opposed to just patent documents and articles considerably ups the ante for Nintendo,” according to Mueller.

Back in July, Nintendo’s moves were considered “weird” by Mueller, who noted that, while it was an attempt by the company to strengthen its case, “the way Nintendo has worded its new claims here is — to put it bluntly — weird, and doesn’t appear likely to solve Nintendo’s problems in this dispute.”

The “weird”-ness of this attempted modification came down to the fact that, according to a machine translated version of the patent filing, its wording was “extremely contorted”. This was apparently done in an effort to try and make the patent sound more complicated than it actually. This is evident in a part of the machine-translated patent quoted below.

“…and even when any boarding character other than the aerial boarding character capable of moving in the air is the currently selected boarding character and a first operation input is given when the player character is in the air, the computer causes the aerial boarding character to appear in the virtual space, and causes the player character to board the aerial boarding character instead of the currently selected boarding character from among the boarding characters…“

Attention was especially brought to the use of the phrase “even when”, with Mueller noting that it isn’t often found in patent applications as the words are “too emphatic and subjective”. Even the word “even” is considered as having no place in patent claims.

In the meantime, you can check out Palworld on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. Check out more details about its recently-kicked off Halloween update while you’re at it as you get ready for the Once Human x Palworld crossover event going live today.

The former is running around in a “rather unusual new outfit,” per the developer’s press release. Meanwhile, Depresso has “something strange” going on, specifically “mysterious figures” in the Palpagos Islands running around in costumes with his likeness. It’s bizarre, but it’s a massive step up compared to last year’s update, which simply added new outfits.

Stay tuned for a full breakdown before the Halloween update goes live. Palworld is available for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, and PC via early access. Version 1.0 is planned for launch in 2026 and will include the ending scenario at the ominous World Tree. Of course, that’s not the end of support for the title by a long shot, though Pocketpair has yet to dive into any concrete details about the future.

Some of the Pals confirmed to be part of the crossover event are Cattiva, Chillet and Chillet Ignis. Along with this, there are also going to be some mystery Pals that are part of an event-exclusive island that will be introduced to Once Human when the update hits at the end of October. This announcement was made at Tokyo Game Show 2025 with a trailer, which you can check out below.

The trailer playfully teases what we can expect from the Once Human x Palworld collaboration. It starts off with a Pal being hard at work on mining a rock before being transported to the strange and horrifying world of Once Human.

The event-exclusive island coming to Once Human is described as being “full of surprises”, and will combine gameplay mechanics from both Once Human as well as Palworld. Players will get to explore Palworld-styled environments while also check out a unique ecosystem that involves Pals, Deviations and Meta-Humans somehow co-existing. One of the examples of this co-existence described in the announcement involves Wanderer and Chefosaurus Rex interacting with Pals in strange and unique ways.

Along with this, the collaboration event will also feature a new transformation system. Players can use special items to transform into Pals and explore the world with an entirely new perspective and set of abilities. The crossover will also feature several exclusive cosmetic items that can only be earned through the event.

Starry Studio has also announced that it has released the Lunar Revelry Visional Wheel update. As part of this, Meta-Humans can be affected by the Moonlight’s Gaze because of the Blood Moon anomaly. The Gaze hitting a certain threshold means that the Lord of Moonlight will manifest as a Meta-Human and start summoning Lunarspawn to protect itself as it tries to steal the player’s identity and escape. As a result, players will enter a Lunarspawn Transformation phase, and will lose their shadow, appearance, name, and all other identity markers.

Once Human is also getting ready for its Trial of Misfortune event, which is set to start on September 29. The event focuses on co-op gameplay, and players will have to team up and work together to beat the Lord of Moonlight and get their hands on the treasure it has been hoarding. The continent during the event is divided into Conquest Zones where co-op will be encouraged.

Earning Moonlight Essence through this event will allow players to spend on accessing Moonlight Trials, which can result in the altering of the Lord of Moonlight’s various abilities. There are six different types of Moonlight Trials, and using more Moonlight Essences will make the effects of these trials even stronger.

Once Human is a free-to-play game available on PC, Android and iOS. The title is also slated for release on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 in 2026.

When asked by a fan on social media whether Palworld: Palfarm was was the project that Buckley wanted to reveal some time ago but had noted that it would still need some years before revealing, he responded by saying “No. That is something even CRAZIER :)”. While this doesn’t really reveal much, the fact that Pocketpair likely has even more projects in the works shouldn’t come as a huge surprise considering just how popular Palworld got.

Palworld: Palfarm was announced earlier this week, and will be coming to PC. The game doesn’t yet have a release date. As its name indicates, it is a farming sim where players get to work alongside Pals create and then foster a farm. The title was announced with a trailer, which showcases what the gameplay will look like. Since it is a farming sim, you can expect a host of different kinds of gameplay systems in place that will revolve around your farm, from cooking to trading, and even growing your stable of Pals.

The title is also slated to feature multiplayer. However, whether this involves each player having their own farm or multiple players working on the same farm hasn’t yet been confirmed. Pocketpair also hasn’t confirmed how many players will be able to join into the same game session.

Pocketpair had also recently confirmed that Palworld will be exiting Early Access some time in 2026. While no exact release date has been confirmed yet, the studio noted that there are still some surprises that are going to be unveiled as 2025 continues drawing to an end. As part of the announcement, Buckley had spoken about the challenges behind cleaning the game up before its 1.0 launch.

“While we have a lot of ideas for where we want to take Palworld, we also need to start thinking about Palworld 1.0,” said Buckley. “Beyond just adding new content, there’s a lot of cleanup that needs to be done before Palworld can exit Early Access. It’s no secret that Palworld has a lot of quirks and jank, and we want to take the time to properly address those before releasing the game. With that in mind, we plan to start that cleanup this year. Our goal is to ultimately release Palworld next year, in 2026, and we think taking the time now to fix those problems will ultimately lead to a better game.”

Palworld is currently available on PC, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Back in June, the title got its Tides of Terraria Update which brought with it a host of new features, including a Pal Trust mechanic, as well as the Moon Lord raid.

Palworld: Palfarm involves venturing to an island where you work alongside different Pals to tend to a farm. You can expect the usual cooking, crafting, mining, and building, but there’s also farming, with seeds, ploughing, and harvesting. Your Pals, each a master in their own right, and other residents will help out, and by giving gifts, you can deepen connections with them (resulting in “unexpected, special stories”).

There’s also a market to buy crops and other goods, and perhaps discover rare items. Multiplayer is supported, though the number of players remains to be confirmed. And, of course, you can capture Pals, even against their will. It wouldn’t be a Palworld title without some moral grayness, after all.

Stay tuned for more details on Palworld: Palfarm in the future. In the meantime, Palworld will exit early access with Version 1.0 in 2026.