Developer Pocketpair announced on Tuesday that Palworld will exit Early Access and will release a full version 1.0 next year with a major update. Update 1.0 is currently in development and will be available sometime in 2026. Pocketpair didn’t confirm a release date in its announcement, but outlined its plans for the game for the remainder of 2025 and beyond in a new video.
Palworld 1.0 will be released in 2026
The Japanese studio released an early access version of the open-world survival crafting game in January 2024. Since then, Palworld has received five major updates and been hit with a lawsuit from Nintendo over alleged gameplay similarities to the Pokémon games. Over time, Pocketpair has added new features, improved quality of life, and added new Pals to the Palworld, but the developer said in a statement that in order to leave Early Access and get the full version, the game needed to be “cleaned up.”
“It’s no secret that Palworld has a lot of quirks and lags, and we want to take the time to properly address these issues before releasing the game,” Bucky, Pocketpair’s communications director and release manager, said in a video announcement posted to YouTube on Tuesday.
Pocketpair said this “cleaning” process will begin this year, with version 1.0 targeted for release in 2026. The developer says it will remain relatively silent on its progress for the remainder of 2025 as it works to deliver needed improvements until full release. Palworld’s winter update is scheduled for later this year, and Pocketpaid says it won’t be as big as previous updates.
“We want players to understand that we are taking extra time to improve the game overall,” Buckey said.
Pocketpair says it plans to bring some surprises in this year’s winter update, ahead of a “massive” 1.0 update in 2026. The developers will share early access to Palworld 1.0 “in the near future.”
Next games and publishing endeavors
The company also shared an update on its publishing arm, Pocketpair Publishing, which was launched in January. The studio says it is working with developers around the world, and these teams are working on multiple projects. Pocketpair Publishing recently released Surgent Studio’s horror game Dead Take on Steam.
Finally, Pocketpair also confirmed that while much of the company’s focus is on Palworld, it has several smaller internal teams working on creative ideas for the studio’s next game. The studio didn’t reveal details, but said its next project will “stay true to our roots.”
Palworld launched on PC, Xbox, and Game Pass on January 19, 2024, and became a hit despite accusations of plagiarism due to similarities in some creature designs and gameplay mechanics to the Pokémon games. In September 2024, Nintendo and the Pokémon Company filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair, alleging that its survival game infringed on three patents.
In May 2025, Pocketpair said it was forced to make changes to Palworld after Nintendo filed a patent infringement lawsuit, which included significant changes to the game’s features and mechanics. The studio said the changes were “necessary” to prevent disruption to the game’s development and release.
Despite the controversy, Palworld still brought commercial success to Pocketpair. In February 2025, the number of players on Steam, Xbox and PS5 exceeded 32 million.
