Palworld Finally Hits 1.0 This Friday - And the Price Stays the Same

The wait is nearly over

One of the biggest surprise hits of the last couple of years is about to cross the finish line. Palworld, Pocketpair's Pokemon-inspired survival-crafting sandbox, is finally leaving early access and hitting its full 1.0 release this Friday, 10th July.

The game first arrived in early access back in January 2024 and immediately became a phenomenon, pulling in enormous player numbers and dominating conversations far beyond its usual audience. More than two years of steady updates later, Pocketpair is ready to slap a 1.0 label on it.

No price increase - a rare move

Here is the part that stands out: the price is not going up. Traditionally, early access games raise their price tag once they hit full release, the logic being that the game is now a finished product rather than a work in progress. The lower early buy-in rewards the players who took a chance early and helped fund development.

Pocketpair is skipping that step entirely. Anyone buying Palworld now, or who bought it during early access, pays the same for the complete 1.0 experience. In a year full of creeping game prices, keeping the tag flat is a genuinely player-friendly decision - and an easy way to keep goodwill high on launch week.

Nintendo drama in the background

No Palworld story is complete without a nod to the ongoing legal battle with Nintendo. The Pokemon comparisons that helped the game go viral also landed Pocketpair in court, and that dispute is still rumbling on in the background as the studio pushes toward 1.0.

It has not slowed the game down, though. If anything, the controversy only pulled in more curious players wanting to see what all the fuss was about.

Why it matters here

Palworld was one of those games that genuinely broke through in our region too. On Steam it was everywhere in early 2024 - friends dragging friends into co-op bases, Discord servers full of Pal-catching screenshots, the works. For a lot of players around here it became the go-to survival game to sink weekends into.

A 1.0 launch is the natural moment to jump back in, whether you drifted away after the first big rush or never tried it at all. With the price staying put, there is very little reason not to. Friday is the day - clear some hard drive space and round up your co-op crew.

Image: Brian Wong / CC BY-SA 2.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gaming_PC-Setup_-_Astaroth-_The_Completed_System.jpg