Palworld Creator Expresses Shock at Publisher Agreements, Aiming for Fairer Deals for Developers: “It Costs You Years of Earnings”
Pocketpair Publishing, the indie arm of Palworld developer Pocketpair, emerged as a way to give back to the gaming community following the studio’s unexpected success. It also serves as a counter to the often unfavorable contracts that many indie developers face while seeking funding.
In a conversation with an outlet, John ‘Bucky’ Buckley, the head of communications and publishing at Pocketpair, shared that after Palworld’s explosive launch, the studio was inundated with requests from developers looking for funding. “All of our games have basically been self-published, right? So that entire side of the industry is relatively alien to us,” Buckley noted.
He expressed surprise at the standard conditions prevalent in the indie publishing landscape. “You’re meeting with these four or five-man teams who are looking for what is relatively not a lot of money. And they are very used to just giving up all of their revenue for one year. We just couldn’t believe it. You want to make this thing that you are totally in love with, and the price you have to pay is someone else taking all your money for years and years and years.”
With the financial backing from Palworld, Buckley explained that Pocketpair Publishing is in a position to provide indie developers with the funding they need without imposing hefty revenue-sharing agreements.
By offering “much fairer deals” that don’t tie up developer revenue behind recoup costs, Pocketpair Publishing allows developers to benefit from their sales right from the start. This means that developers won’t have to wait “years and years and years” to see the rewards of their hard work.
Buckley described the company’s more hands-off approach to publishing, which is somewhat similar to the indie investment fund from the developer of Among Us. He mentioned that they prefer to let developers focus on their projects, stepping in only to “offer some advice” without taking direct control—except in one case where Pocketpair manages the Asian release of a game due to its expertise in that market.
“We literally just fund the game. We don’t buy out any of the company. We don’t take any of the IPs. We really are hands-off,” Buckley concluded.
Interestingly, Kinetic Games, the studio behind Phasmophobia, has recently launched its own publishing arm, following the lead of Pocketpair and Innersloth.
The Palworld team has expressed a preference for indie games over “so-called” AAA titles, citing that indies often feature unique systems that are hard to find elsewhere. “AAA titles are overwhelmingly about graphic quality and fidelity,” they noted.
