First a survival game. Now a card game. Is an anime next for Palworld?

Palworld has sold over 40 million copies since its 2024 debut, and its trading card game just moved 3.5 million pre-order packs. That's not a game anymore. That's a franchise.

So what's next for the "Pokémon with guns" phenomenon? An anime, probably. The question is when, not if.

Why This Matters

This is the exact playbook Pokémon ran in the late '90s: video game, then card game, then anime. Palworld is following the same path, only faster. And it's already got the infrastructure for it.

Pocketpair signed a partnership with Sony's Aniplex back in 2024. Aniplex is one of the biggest anime production houses in the world. That's not a casual deal.

But when asked about an official anime, Pocketpair said what companies always say before they announce one:

"We have no official plans for an anime at this time."

That's the same language studios use when something is cooking but not ready to be served. The "at this time" is doing a lot of work.

How We Got Here

Palworld's road to 1.0 was anything but smooth. It switched from Unity to Unreal Engine 5 mid-development, sold 2 million copies in 24 hours during early access, then faced a lawsuit from Nintendo over design similarities. It survived all of that, and now, after two years in early access, it's a full release.

Since our Palworld early access retrospective, the game has only grown. The card game's pre-order numbers put it in rare company alongside Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon TCG. That's serious momentum.

Pocketpair already has a YouTube series called "PalAnime" — short animated videos set in the Palworld universe. It's easy to see that as a proof of concept.

What's the Bigger Picture?

Palworld is showing us what a modern multimedia franchise launch looks like. The old Pokémon model compressed: game in 2024, card game in 2026, and if the pattern holds, an anime announcement within the next year. The pieces are all there — the popularity, the Aniplex partnership, the animated shorts.

For comparison, our coverage of the Pokémon anime's legacy shows how a good adaptation can turn a hit game into a cultural force. Palworld is already at that tipping point.

What's next? We wait. Pocketpair hasn't said anything official, but the writing is on the wall. And honestly, after a card game that sold millions of packs before release, an anime feels inevitable.