Palworld, the creature-collecting survival game developed by Pocketpair, has left early access and launched its 1.0 version today, capping a turbulent journey since its surprise arrival in 2024. The game drew both huge commercial success and controversy for closely echoing Pokémon — notably by putting cutesy monsters to work in weapons factories — and it has sold 40 million copies despite critical scepticism and a lawsuit from Nintendo. Its full release marks a milestone for a title that reshaped expectations of what a monster-catching game could be.

The legal dispute centred not on Palworld's creature designs, which a lawyer and reportedly Nintendo's own legal team concluded did not infringe, but on Nintendo's patents covering game mechanics such as "flying mounts". Pocketpair conceded some ground, removing the ability to summon Pals via a thrown sphere and to use them for gliding, yet the studio has continued to thrive — moving into publishing, releasing a spin-off card game, and developing a Palworld farming sim announced shortly after Nintendo revealed its own Pokémon spin-off, Pokopia. The 1.0 release rolls out around 4.30am UK time on Friday 10th July (8.30pm PT / 11.30pm ET Thursday 9th July for US players), with 27 pages of patch notes promised; players returning after a break are advised to uninstall old mods first.