By Sam Sepiol

Copyright insider-gaming

Pocketpair has finally announced that Palworld will exit early access with the release of Palworld 1.0 in 2026.

Palworld was released in early access in January 2024, and it became an instant hit. Within the first year, the game garnered numerous accolades, including achieving one of the highest concurrent player counts of all time on Steam, surpassing 32 million players and more. However, that was still in early access; the developers are now planning a full release for Palworld in 2026.

Palworld is Leaving Early Access Next Year

Pocketpair has released a new video on their official YouTube channel, discussing the release of Palworld 1.0 and its future. The communications director and publishing manager at Pocketpair, Bucky, first spoke about all the updates the game has received since entering early access, including Raids with version 0.2, Sakurajima with version 0.3, Feybreak with version 0.4, cross-play support with 0.5, and Terraria’s Heartbeat with version 0.6.

Now the developers are looking at version 1.0 for Palworld, which will finally bring its full release. To do that, the game will require “a lot of cleanup” before it can exit early access. Bucky also acknowledged the game’s “quirks and jank” and wants to “properly address” them before releasing the title. The cleanup process will begin this year, and the team’s goal is to release Palworld in 2026 officially.

Palworld’s Winter 2025 Update Won’t Be As Big as Feybreak

The communications director confirmed that “things are going to be a little quiet from us for the rest of the year” as they prepare Palworld’s full release. Which also means that the Winter update for this year won’t be as big as the previous one. However, that doesn’t mean that there will be no updates; the devs still have a “few surprises” in store for the players.

Palworld Devs Have a Massive Amount of Content Planned for the 1.0 Update

Bucky added that Palworld 1.0 will be a significant milestone for the team, and they have “a truly massive amount of content” planned for this update. However, they don’t want to rush the update and instead lay a proper foundation. The developers will share some sneak peeks about Palworld 1.0 in the “very near future”.

In other news, Nintendo acquired another patent for character summons while its Palworld lawsuit continues. Additionally, a lookalike of Pocketpair’s popular title recently appeared on Nintendo’s store. What are your thoughts on Palworld 1.0 arriving in 2026? Let us know through the official Insider Gaming forums discussion.

For more information from Insider Gaming, read about PlayStation reportedly hosting a State of Play event next week. Don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.