- Palworld 1.0 update was made for players and not critics, said John Buckley, Pocketpair's head of publishing and communication.
- He explained that this was the reason why Palworld's full launch didn't receive as many Metacritic reviews as other recent releases.
- Buckley said Pocketpair wasn't focused on critical reception and wanted to keep the 1.0 content a secret for players until launch.
Palworld’s 1.0 full release last month on July 10, 2026, garnered only 14 Metacritic reviews for the PC version, with 2 reviews each for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions. This begs the question: where are the remaining critic reviews for Palworld 1.0?
Thankfully, developer Pocketpair’s head of publishing and communications, John “Bucky” Buckley, explained the reason in an X post earlier today, August 7.
When asked why recent releases like Beast of Reincarnation and Halo: Campaign Evolved managed to accumulate more Metacritic reviews shortly after launch, Buckley explained, “I mean…to be fair, we didn’t send out press keys in advance, and for sure the other games did.”
The Palworld 1.0 dev continued, “We weren’t really thinking about critic reception at all, and we wanted the content of 1.0 to remain a secret and unspoiled right up to release, so…we kept it all pretty close to our chest!”
Buckley further mentioned that if they had taken a more “traditional route” and prioritized critics over players, they’d have sent out press keys and codes around a month in advance. He followed up this claim with an endearing reply, saying, “Palworld 1.0 was very much for the fans, not for the industry. Just a different case, is all!’
He mentioned that Palworld requires “significant time investment,” which could be why most media outlets haven’t reviewed the full game yet. However, he left the door open for a more “traditional route” with their next title, Palworld: Palfarm, an upcoming farming simulator set in the Palworld universe.
At a time when companies focus on critical reception or shareholder returns to determine a game’s success, Pocketpair took a more player-friendly approach, and it has proved well for them, as Palworld crossed 40 million players ahead of the 1.0 launch.
Furthermore, Pocketpair is partnering with Garena to release Palworld Online, an officially licensed MMORPG coming to iOS and Android devices later in 2026.
