Summary
Japanese company Pocketpair, the developer behindPalworld, has officially entered the publishing game and announced its new project, a horror game from Surgent Studios. Pocketpair has been around for a few years and had already established itself as a skillful developer with the early access release ofCraftopiain 2020. But the studio really drew attention withPalworld, which launched on PC and Xbox in early 2024 and came to PlayStation 5 in September.
Despite thelawsuit Nintendo filed against Pocketpairin September over the similarities betweenPalworld’s Pals and Nintendo’s Pokemon, the company seems unphased. Perhaps this is because Nintendo is only asking for what amounts to about $65,000 USD, but Pocketpair recently revealed its ambitious roadmap forPalworld, which is still in early access despite being nearly a year old.
The Japanese studio isn’t stopping at developing incredibly successful monster-taming survival games, however. The company has dabbled in publishing before, withNever Grave: The Witch and the Curse,a Metroidvania currently in development by Frontside 180. But on January 23, the company simultaneously revealed the creation of Pocketpair Publishing and its first project, a horror game by Surgent Studios. As a reminder, Surgent is a film studio that joined the video game space inApril 2024 with the release ofTales of Kenzera: ZAU, an impressive debut that has been nominated for multiple awards.
Pocketpair Publishing’s First Stint Will Be a Horror Game
Unfortunately, little is known about this upcoming horror game. Abubakar Salim, studio founder and CEO and voice behind the titular Zau, has stated simply that it “will be short and weird.” It is unknown if it is separate from Project Uso,Surgent Studios’ sophomore endeavor that was revealed in October. Inspired by 1999’s classicPlanescape: Torment, that title will be a single-player afro-gothic RPG featuring isometric graphics. However, Uso’s description of being “darker, edgier, and more visceral” does jive with it perhaps being a horror game.
This announcement comes just months afterSurgent Studios put staff on notice about potential layoffswhile it sought funding for its future projects. Hopefully, the collaboration with Pocketpair means that the studio’s financial outlook has improved, at least for the time being, and its employees can feel secure through the completion of Uso and this new horror game, if they are indeed separate projects. DespiteTales of Kenzera: Zaubeing considered by many to be one of the best Metroidvanias of 2024, it apparently didn’t bring in the numbers the developer was hoping for, as Surgent employees already faced a round of layoffs in July 2024.
