Palworld Devs Reject 'Pokemon With Guns' Label

When you think of Palworld, the immediate association for many is "Pokemon with guns," a shorthand that propelled the game into the spotlight when it first gained popularity. This catchy phrase, used widely across the internet—including by us at IGN—helped draw attention to the game due to its unusual mix of concepts. However, according to Pocketpair's communications director and publishing manager, John 'Bucky' Buckley, this label was never intended to be the game's defining feature. In fact, Buckley expressed at the Game Developers Conference last month that the team at Pocketpair isn't particularly fond of the moniker.

Buckley elaborated on Palworld's origins during our interview following his talk. He emphasized that the game's initial pitch was not centered around Pokemon but rather drew inspiration from ARK: Survival Evolved. "A lot of us are huge ARK people, and our previous game, Craftopia, kind of has some stuff in it that we really loved from ARK and some ideas from ARK," he explained. The goal was to expand on ARK's concept, focusing on automation and giving each creature unique personalities and abilities. Despite this, the "Pokemon with guns" label stuck after the game's trailer was showcased at the Indie Live Expo in Japan in June 2021, quickly catching the eye of Western media.

While Buckley acknowledges that the "Pokemon with guns" tagline contributed significantly to Palworld's success, he also expressed a desire for players to experience the game before forming judgments. "But still today, 2025, if people want to say [‘Pokemon with guns’], that's fine. But the thing that upsets us, I guess, a little bit, is the people who firmly believe that's what the game actually is. But it's not even remotely like that to play the game," he said. Buckley also noted that he doesn't see Pokemon as a direct competitor, citing more overlap with ARK and dismissing the notion of competition in gaming as largely manufactured.

If Buckley had his way, he would have preferred a different tagline that better reflected Palworld's true nature. "I probably would've called it, ‘Palworld: It's Kind of Like ARK if ARK Met Factorio and Happy Tree Friends’ or something like that," he suggested, acknowledging that it doesn't have the same catchy appeal as "Pokemon with guns."

In our extended interview, Buckley and I also discussed the potential for Palworld to come to the Nintendo Switch 2, the possibility of Pocketpair being acquired, and more. You can read the full discussion [ttpp]here[ttpp].