Palworld developer Pocketpair Inc. is starting a new publishing wing, fittingly dubbed Pocketpair Publishing. Its first announced partner is Tales of Kenzera: Zau developer Surgent Studios, as Pocketpair will publish a new horror game from the studio.
Pocketpair rose to prominence in 2024 thanks to Palworld, a smash hit survival crafting game that draws clear inspiration from Pokémon. The studio has had a busy year since then, fighting off a lawsuit from Nintendo and partnering with Sony Music Entertainment to expand the Palworld brand. Now, the studio will grow once more as it looks to publish games under the company’s new arm.
Pocketpair Publishing is getting to work fast by publishing a new game from Surgent Studios. The project isn’t a follow-up to Tales of Kenzera: Zau, nor is it set in the same universe. Instead, it’s described as a short horror game. No further details were given, but its scheduled to launch in 2025.
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It’s big news for Surgent Studios, which has been vocal about its struggle to secure a publisher for its next project. Back in October, the studio announced that it was going on hiatus while it looked for a publisher. Shortly after the announcement, CEO Abubakar Salim publicly revealed a pitch for its work-in-progress game, a Afro-Gothic RPG codenamed Project Uso. Its Pocketpair published game appears to be something entirely different from that project, though Surgent affirms that it’s still in “earnest conversation about further projects set in the Tales of Kenzera universe.”
In a press release, Pocketpair Publishing head John Buckley gave a bit of insight into why the company is getting into publishing: “As the games industry continues to grow, more and more games find themselves struggling to get funded or greenlit. We think this is a real shame, because there are so many incredible creators and ideas out there that just need a little help to become incredible games.
Surgent Studios’ unnamed game will launch in 2025.
