[STEAM] With Pokémon in Fortnite Seemingly Off the Table, Palworld Looks Likely to Crossover Instead

[Steam 0]

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Steam hit

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looks likely to crossover with

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in the future, while Pokémon seemingly remains off the table.

Back in January, Pocketpair head of publishing and communications John "Bucky" Buckley openly suggested a crossover with Fortnite via a post on social media, hoping to catch the attention of Epic Games. "If you ever want to put Palworld in Fortnite just reach out hehe ," Bucky

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— and it seems like Epic Games might have taken interest.

This week, Epic Games was

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adding Palworld to Fortnite's in-game survey, which sometimes asks players to rate aspects of the game, or share details of other games they had played recently. It's also a tool that is sometimes used to gauge interest in upcoming crossovers, with titles popping up before crossover skins appear in-game.

Less than 24 hours after this, Bucky mysteriously

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to ask Palworld fans which Pal creature they would like to see get a skin one day — with the caveat that he did not mention Fortnite by name, and stated that his question was being asked "theoretically, hypothetically, conceptually, and spiritually," with "absolutely no promise of it being realized or coming to fruition ever."

Theoretically, hypothetically, conceptually, and spiritually…if, with absolutely no promise of it being realized or coming to fruition ever, but if…capital I and capital F…IF…any of the new Pals in 1.0 were to get a skin, which would it be and what would the skin be?

— Bucky | Palworld (@Bucky_cm)

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Still, though, it's all interesting timing. Fortnite has of course teamed up with dozens of other games in the past for collaborations, including huge franchises such as Resident Evil, Street Fighter, God of War, and Halo. Indeed, rumors abound that Fortnite's next season will be fully gaming crossover-themed, with

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from reliable Fortnite leakers that Sonic, Kingdom Hearts, and Persona are among those soon to be joining the party.

Could Palworld pop up too? It seems likely. Fortnite has recently leaned into creature collecting gameplay with the current season's hugely popular Sprites, which players have been enthusiastically capturing and trading, boosting the game's player numbers by a fair margin. Just this week, Fortnite also announced it would be soon highlighting player-made games that feature gameplay tied to its ****-like Sidekicks — which seem like another solid gameplay possibility for how Pals could show up.

And all of this comes as Fortnite continues to crossover with pretty much every gaming brand under the sun... other than Nintendo. Epic Games is understood to have explored the possibility of working with the Mario maker previously, during the game's explosive heyday when it secured Xbox and PlayStation mascots such as Kratos, Aloy and Master Chief as in-game skins. But Nintendo reportedly refused to play ball, uncertain about its characters appearing on rival consoles. Years later, and despite plenty of opportunities (a Super Mario Galaxy Movie crossover, anyone?) Nintendo and Pokémon remain absent — perhaps to Palworld's advantage.

Palworld is currently seeing a resurgance on Steam following its big 1.0 update, though the question of whether it remains too uncomfortably close to Pokémon still remains. That update saw

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. Asked for comment on the changes by IGN, developer Pocketpair did not respond. At the same time, yet another Pal was introduced — a giant whale —

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.

And of course, all of this comes amid the ongoing legal battle between The Pokémon Company and Pocketpair over the use of patents, which seemingly prompted the latter to make gameplay changes in order to nullify its claims.

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.

Palworld's 1.0 launch landed earlier this month, finally bringing the game out of early access. Pocketpair said at the time that

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beyond $29.99 as Palworld has "become a success beyond our wildest dreams." That statement likely reflects the fact that more than 40 million players had dipped their paws into Palworld since its early access launch.

Our

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has been updated for 1.0, including

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, so you can make sure to uncover everything new. We’ve also got a guide to

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and

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, plus the

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, and the

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Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky

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