Palworld proved to be an incredible success story in 2024, launching to massive sales numbers and record-setting Steam player counts, but the combination of extreme popularity and obvious visual similarities made it an easy target for criticism and straight-up harassment. According to Pocketpair community manager John "Bucky" Buckley, that contributed to the studio's radio silence in the early months after Palworld's launch.
"There were a lot of very upsetting moments in those first couple of months, not just the accusation stuff, but the death threats and stuff like this," Buckley told us during an interview at the Game Developers Conference earlier this month. "I can't remember exactly how many times now, but two or three times, we really tried to push back on the AI stuff specifically. And it was just fueling this fire."
