Palworld’s Pal Summoning Controversy Explained

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 5, 2024 12 Views 7 Min Read
Palworld's Pal Summoning Controversy Explained



Palworld is well-known as a hybrid of survival and monster-capturing gameplay elements. Being able to summon creatures to help with survival or exploration is one of the main reasons people are drawn to the game, making it popular and successful. However, a recent Palworld update has made a controversial change to how summoning Pals works, a core gameplay mechanic that feels as if it shouldn’t have been tampered with at all. It has left a clear negative impact on the community and may also have hurt the game’s future.




Palworld‘s 0.3.11 patch brought about a big change, as it no longer allows players to throw and summon their Pals wherever they like and instead materializes the creatures right beside them. The game’s community questioned Pocketpair’s decision, as the modification to the core mechanic feels as if it took away a part of players’ in-game freedom. The change also created a problem, with Pals being stuck in walls or places they shouldn’t be when summoned. Although Pocketpair has mitigated the issue with a recent patch, it shows that the update to Pal summoning has left an impression, one that could leave some repercussions for the game.

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The Potential Reason for Palworld Changing the Pal Summoning Mechanic


Although it remains unclear as to why Pocketpair decided to change the Pal summoning mechanic, it could be because of the lawsuit between Palworld and Pokemon. From many different viewpoints, it is clear that the two games have some glaring similarities, and it’s because of them that Nintendo filed a case against its much smaller competitor for patent infringement. What this means is that the company is suing Pocketpair for infringing on several mechanics found in Pokemon games, and it’s likely that Palworld‘s Pal summoning is one of them. However, there is no confirmation that this is the reason for the change, and hopefully, everything will be made clear as to why it happened in the future.

How Palworld and Pocketpair May Be Affected by the Change to the Mechanic

While Palworld‘s statement regarding the Nintendo patent lawsuit could be the reason for the mechanic’s update, the change is what should be focused on rather than why it happened. Though Pocketpair continues with its efforts to try and make the game grow and the modification to Pal summoning work, there’s no doubt that some damage has been done. Palworld and its developer have likely been subjected to some negative effects from the decision, with some of them potentially being:


  • People no longer wanting to continue to play the game or making them at least put playing it on hold, effectively reducing its player base and possibly also its lifespan
  • The new summoning mechanic not being accepted by most fans, forcing Pocketpair to quickly come up with solutions to try and make the new way work or create a new method that will be better received
  • The backlash to the change leading to some negative posts, potentially making Palworld and Pocketpair less appealing to the public and preventing the game from obtaining new players
  • Making certain parts of the game harder, resulting in the game and the developer losing some popularity and goodwill from its fans

Problems such as these are not what Palworld needs, especially with Pocketpair’s plans to expand the IP. Hopefully, the developer can figure out a method to make the change work, because it needs to if it wants its creation to continue living and attain more success.


The changes to Pal summoning may have affected Palworld‘s future growth and plans, but Pocketpair still continues to press on. The developer aims to make more improvements to the game despite the controversy brought by the mechanic change, and only time will tell how Pocketpair will best respond to it.

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