Microsoft partners with Palworld in official marketing for Xbox

Microsoft are partnering with the developers of Palworld, using the game and its ‘Pals’ in the company’s official marketing for Xbox.

Since the game’s release in late January, Palworld’s runaway success has kept it firmly in the public eye. It’s one of the biggest and most surprising success stories the gaming industry has seen. It’s broken concurrent player records and become one of the best-selling indie games of all time.

It hasn’t been without controversy, however, with many believing Palworld’s models are too similar to Pokemon for the game to avoid facing some sort of action from Nintendo. But, as they say, any publicity is good publicity. And with so much of it, companies are showing interest in teaming up with indie developer, Pocketpair, to get a piece of the Palworld pie. 

At least, that’s what Microsoft is doing, using Palworld in official marketing materials for the Xbox.

“Fun fact: XboxGamePass comes with Pals,” reads the tweet on the official Xbox account showcasing an image featuring characters from Palworld alongside the three available versions of the Xbox Series X|S.

It’s not a surprising partnership by any means, considering Palworld’s success on Game Pass. In many ways, Microsoft just got access to a title as marketable as Pokemon itself.

Microsoft already confirmed its efforts to help Palworld scale up to meet demand by offering the studio engineering resources and dedicated servers. Something which will no doubt help with the hefty costs of the game’s monthly maintenance.

Pocketpair

Despite claims of similarity to Pokemon, Nintendo are yet to take any formal action against Palworld.

Despite announcing an investigation looking into breaches of their IP, there hasn’t been any action from The Pokemon Company or Nintendo on a legal front. Something that’s led many to believe copyright laws won’t be much of a hindrance to Palworld’s future.

Judging by the new marketing materials, Microsoft is hedging its bets on the game’s long-term success.