'I can't thank streamers enough': Palworld developer's CEO weighs in on Japanese visual novel discourse in the wake of streaming controversy

GamesSurvival & CraftingPalworld’I can’t thank streamers enough': Palworld developer’s CEO weighs in on Japanese visual novel discourse in the wake of streaming controversyWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Pocketpair)

The cast of Palworld in visual novel form

If your first response to that headline was “what are these words, and why are they being put in that order?” That’s understandable—the present discourse taking place in the Japanese gaming community is, after all, centred around a genre we don’t get to talk about too often over here: The visual novel.

While we’re used to pretty lax attitudes from game companies regarding the livestreaming of their products—typically because it’s free advertising—visual novels are another beast in Japan, with one violator beingarrested and chargedfor posting clips online last year.

The crux of the problem, so it’s argued, is that a visual novel is more akin to a book or a movie than a game. If you see someone playing a game, you’re only getting one-to-two thirds of the experience—if you watch someone play a visual novel, though? You’re basically getting the whole experience.

While I’ve got mixed feelings on the subject, I don’t think it’s entirely unfair for developers, especially smaller ones, to buy into that theory. An agreement, like the one on that Steam page, seems like a decent compromise—and it probably stings to have that trust betrayed even if it’s entirely unsurprising that it was.

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Palworld’s stratospheric popularity, in part, was due to the streaming presence it garnered—its edgy implications and Pokémon-like pals gelled nicely with it being a halfway-decent survival game. So it’s not surprising when Mizobe adds that he “can’t thank streamers enough for making Pocketpair’s games enjoyable for so many people.

“I also believe that the culture of streaming games is a wonderful thing in itself, and I think that game content creators play a big role in lighting up the gaming industry.”

Granted, Palworld is—April Fools jokes aside—not a visual novel, so you could argue that “streamers are good” is an easy stance for the studio to take, especially since it enjoyed so much success from them. I’m reminded of how, not too long ago, Warframe’s developers said that big publishers gave up on theirlive service games too soon—the riches of one developer may be the ruin of another.

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