Pocketpair remains an independent studio because it has no outside investors or financial backing, according to John \u201cBucky\u201d Buckley, its head of publishing and communications. The company owns 100% of the studio and has funded Palworld itself.<\/p>
\u201cMany studios considered \u2018indie,\u2019 including some that have won major awards and achieved huge success, have received funding and backing from much larger companies,\u201d Buckley wrote in a post on X. He argued that employee numbers and revenue should not determine whether a studio is independent.<\/p>
Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe previously described the company as a \u201ctrue indie company\u201d that plans to continue making games independently. He also acknowledged that the studio\u2019s size and commercial success could place it near the double-A category.<\/p>
Buckley considers creative control a clearer measure of independence than a fixed staff limit. A studio can remain independent when it decides which games to make and how to develop them without another company directing those choices.<\/p>
External funding does not automatically remove a studio\u2019s indie status, Buckley added, if it does not restrict creative control. \u201cI don\u2019t think having a publisher or investor automatically makes a studio any less indie,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>
Pocketpair has expanded into publishing and supports other independent projects, including Windrose, Truckful and Clicky Islands. Palworld\u2019s success has contributed to the company\u2019s growth, and the game could reach 40 million players in 2026.<\/p>
Some observers may describe Pocketpair as double-A or triple-I because of its size and revenue. Buckley\u2019s position is that the studio remains indie because it is self-owned and has no outside entity directing its creative decisions.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pocketpair says it remains an indie studio because it is self-funded and retains full creative control, despite Palworld\u2019s success and the company\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-4645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest","tag-pc-gaming-news"],"newsroom_tags":[{"id":19,"title":"PC Gaming","slug":"pc-gaming-news"}],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n