Cliff “CliffyB” Bleszinski has opened up that at one point he pitched a Palworld-like game to Epic Games, only for it to not lead to anything. It was billed as “medieval Pokemon but with baby dragons instead.”
On Twitter, the Gears of War creator expressed how the wild success of Pocketpair’s controversial Palworld just validated the pitch he made years ago. Granted, we will note that at the time, many of his decisions were a touch harder to swallow, like how it was poised to be a mobile-first game and at the time, Pokemon wasn’t nearly as in dire need of competition as it is right now.
Responding to a comment about why it never got picked up — “it just… never went anywhere.” It was turned down by all major publishers, perhaps due to the concerning nature of a game that could even be compared to Pokemon.
As it stands, Palworld is in no real danger, meaning other games that pull inspiration could do so without much worry, but we suspect it needs to tread carefully, as Nintendo does have its eye on the phenomenon. Considering Palworld has been in the public’s consciousness since 2021, dating that far back with media brandishing it as “Pokemon with guns,” we doubt the game will be going anywhere.
Palworld's success kinda validates my pitch that was turned down at Epic many years ago – medieval Pokémon with baby dragons instead.
— Cliff Bleszinski (@therealcliffyb) January 25, 2024
More Smash Jump: Xbox is shuttering its physical game retail division, Stardew Valley’s latest patch has become a larger scale than its creator expected, and Gyrados enters the Pokemon Unite roster.
