Last summer, Palworld developer Pocketpair signed a deal with Sony Music Entertainment to produce merchandise, music, and other products around Palworld. Although this deal was merely a business agreement aimed at expanding the Palworld universe beyond gaming, it sparked rumors among fans that an acquisition by Sony might be imminent. This speculation was fueled by earlier rumors that Pocketpair had been in talks with Microsoft about a potential acquisition.

However, Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe later clarified that the acquisition talks with Microsoft were untrue, yet the rumors certainly ignited discussions within the gaming community. Since then, speculation about Pocketpair's potential acquisition has continued, especially given Microsoft's aggressive acquisition strategy in the AA gaming sector and their interest in Japanese developers, alongside Sony's own series of acquisitions.

The question remains: will Pocketpair ever be acquired? The ultimate decision lies with Mizobe. During a conversation at the Game Developers Conference last month, Pocketpair's communications director and publishing manager, John 'Bucky' Buckley, expressed strong skepticism about any potential acquisition.

"Our CEO would never allow it," Buckley stated emphatically. "He likes doing his own thing and being his own boss. He doesn't like people telling him what to do."

Buckley elaborated further, saying, "So I would be shocked. Maybe when he's old, and he might just sell it off for money. And that would be sad, but in my lifetime, I probably won't see it. No, it'll be interesting to see where the two paths go. We, Pocketpair, are obviously only involved in where the game path is going. Palworld as an IP, we are involved, but it’s very much in the hands of Aniplex and Sony Music who are steering that ship right now. We are just offering our advice and thoughts as they take that."

In our interview, Buckley and I also discussed the possibility of Palworld coming to the Nintendo Switch 2, the studio's reaction to the game being dubbed "Pokemon with guns," and more. You can read the full discussion [ttpp].