Pocketpair, Sony, And Aniplex Establish Palworld Entertainment, First Official Merch Revealed

Earlier this year, developer Pocket Pair released Palworld, a monster taming survival crafting game that took the gaming community by storm, with many attributing its success to the similarities its creature designs have with Pokemon.

Now, developer Pocketpair is aiming to take Palworld to the next level, by partnering with Sony Entertainment Japan and subsidiary Aniplex to form Palworld Entertainment. This new venture aims to expand Palworld beyond the gaming sphere, including commercial licensing and official merch.

Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. and its group subsidiary Aniplex Inc. and Pocketpair, Inc. have established a joint venture, Palworld Entertainment Inc., to expand and develop new businesses associated with the hit game, Palworld. The announcement was made today in a joint release by all three companies.

The joint venture will be responsible for developing the reach of the intellectual property and for expanding commercial business endeavors, including the global licensing and merchandising activities associated with Palworld, outside of the interactive game.

Joint venture efforts will begin with the development of exclusive merchandise based on the game—which will debut and sell at the Pocketpair booth during Bilibili World 2024 (beginning Friday, July 12, 2024 in Shanghai, China) and be made available for pre-order at Aniplex and its subsidiaries, Aniplex of America and Aniplex Shanghai, e-commerce sites with more detailed information at a later date.

The first round of merch are a trio of plushies based on fan-favorite “Pals” Cattiva, Depresso, and Chillet, being sold for a limited time on Aniplex USA’s website.

With this move, it appears that Pocketpair may be aiming to make Palworld a global media franchise on par with rivals such as Pokemon, Digimon, and Yokai Watch. That said, whether Palworld can eventually fulfill this lofty ambition remains to be seen.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.