Which game did Pocketpair's CEO say Palworld's concept is based on?

Pocketpair’s CEO said Palworld’s concept is based on Ark: Survival Evolved.

Takuro Mizobe described Palworld as an attempt to combine monster-collecting with the open-world survival-crafting genre. He specifically compared its overall game mechanics to Ark, whose defining features include survival, crafting, exploration, base building, and taming or partnering with creatures.

That comparison is narrower than saying Palworld is simply a Pokémon-style game. Pokémon influenced the creature-collecting idea and public comparisons, but Mizobe identified Ark as the closer mechanical reference. Rust was cited for survival mechanics and in-game tasks, while RimWorld was named as a major inspiration for the colony-simulation side.

Ark: Survival Evolved launched in 2015 and places players in a world filled with dinosaurs and other creatures. Palworld reshapes that formula around collectible “Pals,” firearms, automation, and base work, so the games are influences rather than identical designs.