When Pocketpair's monster capturing survival adventure, Palworld, was released, it quickly drew comparisons to Pokemon, with many dubbing it "Pokemon with guns." While Pocketpair's communications director, John 'Bucky' Buckley, acknowledges that it's not their preferred comparison, the allure of collecting a following of adorable creatures has sparked curiosity among fans about whether Palworld could ever grace the Nintendo Switch, the iconic platform for Pokemon games.

However, Buckley has dashed those hopes, citing technical limitations as the primary barrier. "If we could make the game work on the Switch, we would, but Palworld is a beefy game," he explained. This statement came during our conversation at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, following Buckley's engaging talk, 'Community Management Summit: A Palworld Roller Coaster: Surviving the Drop.'

During our discussion, I also inquired about the potential for a Nintendo Switch 2 release. Buckley expressed interest but noted that without access to the new console's specifications, it's too early to determine feasibility. "We haven't seen those specs yet," he said. "Like everyone else, we're waiting. I'm walking around GDC hoping someone will tell me them, but everyone I've spoken to says they haven't even seen them. If it's beefy enough, it's 100% worth considering. We did a lot of optimization for Steam Deck, which we were really happy with. Still work to do, but we're really happy with how it turned out. So we would like to get it on more handhelds if possible."

Amidst these technical considerations, Pocketpair is also navigating a lawsuit from Nintendo over alleged patent infringement related to Pokemon's ball-throwing mechanics. This legal battle has led some to speculate that it might be the real reason Palworld hasn't made it to the Switch. However, Buckley clarified during his GDC talk that the lawsuit isn't the primary obstacle to releasing on Nintendo's platforms. He briefly touched on the lawsuit, mentioning that it caught the team by surprise despite their thorough legal checks before the game's release. "Pretty much everyone at Pocketpair is a huge fan [of Pokemon]," Buckley shared, "so it was a very depressing day, everyone heads down and walking in the rain."

The looming question remains: would Nintendo allow a game it's taken issue with to be released on its next-generation console? As we await the answer, we'll be posting our full interview with Buckley later this week, so stay tuned for more insights on Palworld. In the meantime, if you've taken a break from the game, now's a great time to jump back in, as Palworld recently introduced cross-platform play in its latest update.