The CEO of Pocketpair, the studio behind hit game Palworld, has revealed that the cost of running the gaming company’s servers is becoming a major concern for the company amid rising costs.
Pocketpair is behind many popular games, including Palworld, Craftopia and Overdungeon, which are available on Steam, a popular video game distribution service and storefront.
In a post on XTakuro Mizobe posted a screenshot showing a significant cost increase of 359%, with the caption: “Wait, maybe they’re going out of business because of server costs?”
Will server operating costs cause games to cost more?
The screenshot shows the operating costs of the company’s servers: 70 million yen, or about $475,000. That’s the bill the company expects to receive in February alone.
In response to the CEO’s concerns, many users commented that they would be willing to pay in-game donations to keep the games running. Others suggested affordable add-ons to cover the high costs of running servers.
Another individual noted that large companies can “get through it as long as (they) have cash,” indicating that smaller developers and startups will likely face more existential threats.
Despite the initial challenges of dealing with an unexpectedly successful launch, Pocketpair has received fewer complaints about server issues recently, which could be attributed to increased investment in maintenance costs.
Released less than three weeks ago, Palworld has already amassed a whopping 19 million players on Steam and Xbox combined. Steam sales alone have generated over $200 million in revenue since launch.
Looking ahead, Palworld network engineer Chujo Hiroto said, “Following the order to never let service go down no matter what, we have prepared servers without considering costs.”
However, the stark reality that keeping game servers online is costing developers millions raises the question of whether gamers and consumers will expect price increases across the industry, and more broadly, in the coming months.