People will say I’m lying: Palworld maker Pocketpair executive John Buckley on not using AI to publish games

Japanese game developer Pocketpair has confirmed that it will not provide funding to game projects that use generative AI. John Buckley, communications director and publishing manager at Pocketpair, said that the company launched a dedicated publishing division in January to help studios bring their projects to market.

Despite the company that developed the game, Pocketpair, giving other developers money to help them make a fun game, it has drawn a line at generative AI. In a recent interview with Game Developer at Gamescom Asia, Buckley said: “People are going to say I'm lying, but these are just the hard facts. We don't believe in it. We're very upfront about it. If you're big on AI stuff or your game is Web3 or uses NFTs, there are lots of publishers out there [who'll talk to you], but we're not the right partner for that.”

Why this stance against AI matters

Buckley acknowledged that Pocketpair is regularly accused of using generative AI in Palworld, which raises questions about whether people will believe the company's position on the technology. The company simply "doesn't believe" in generative AI, he said. Despite Pocketpair's stance, Buckley does not expect one publisher's position to prevent AI-made games from entering the market. He believes that the shift is already underway.

“I think over the next two or three years we're going to get into this weird era—and you can see it slowly happening now on Steam—of really low quality, AI-made games," Buckley said.“It's something that has plagued other stores, but Steam had been good at keeping them out. But it's happening. This wave is coming, and I think we're going to enter this kind of authenticity market where people are going to slowly say 'no, these guys are really trying to make something special' to fight back.” he added.