Pocketpair says it would crossover with ARK, No Man's Sky and Enshrouded "tomorrow" — if it made sense
Pocketpair's Head of Publishing named ARK: Survival Evolved, No Man's Sky and Enshrouded as the studio's dream Palworld crossovers — and explained exactly why none of them have happened yet.
The wishlist at a glance
- Who said it
- John "Bucky" Buckley, Pocketpair's Head of Publishing
- Where
- Game8's Palworld 1.0 pre-release interview
- ARK: Survival Evolved
- Close relationship with Studio Wildcard — blocked by dinosaur-to-Pal design fit
- No Man's Sky
- Buckley publicly pitched Sean Murray on X in April 2026 — still unresolved
- Enshrouded
- Already ran a Steam bundle (July 14) — no in-game crossover yet
- Precedent
- Palworld shipped real crossovers before: Terraria, ULTRAKILL's Home Sweet Home
- Status
- Wishlist only — no timeline, contract or in-game content confirmed
The most direct crossover wishlist Pocketpair has given
Pocketpair's Head of Publishing, John "Bucky" Buckley, told Game8 in a Palworld 1.0 pre-release interview that the studio would crossover with ARK: Survival Evolved, No Man's Sky and Enshrouded "tomorrow" if it could make the collaborations make sense. It's the most direct on-record wishlist Pocketpair has given for future Palworld crossovers, and it names three very different studios for three very different reasons.
ARK: Survival Evolved — the closest relationship, the hardest design fit
ARK is the one with the clearest relationship behind it. Buckley described Pocketpair as being close with Studio Wildcard's team, which is exactly the kind of existing rapport that tends to precede an actual crossover deal rather than a wishful mention. The catch he raised is technical, not political: ARK's roster is built almost entirely around dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures, and translating that into Palworld's Pal-catching, Pal-working economy is a harder design problem than it sounds. A dinosaur that fits ARK's survival-sim combat doesn't automatically make sense as a base worker you assign to mining or farming — the crossover would need new mechanics, not just a reskin.
No Man's Sky — a public pitch that predates this interview
No Man's Sky carries a public paper trail that predates this interview. Buckley pitched Hello Games founder Sean Murray directly on X back in April 2026, which makes Buckley's comments less a fresh idea and more a studio head confirming the interest is still live months later. No Man's Sky's aesthetic — procedural planets, exosuits, spacefaring creatures — is arguably an even bigger stretch for Palworld's grounded crafting-and-catching loop than ARK is, which may be exactly why nothing has moved past a public nudge yet.
Enshrouded — already a bundle, not yet a crossover
Enshrouded is the odd one out, because Pocketpair and Keen Games already have a working relationship: Palworld ran an Enshrouded-themed Steam bundle as recently as July 14, the day before this interview surfaced. A commercial bundle — discounted price, shared storefront placement — is a much lower bar than an in-game crossover with new Pals, cosmetics or a shared event, so naming Enshrouded here reads as Pocketpair signaling it wants to go further than a bundle, not that it already has.
Palworld has done this before
None of this is new territory for Palworld. The game has shipped real in-game crossovers before — a Terraria collaboration and content tied to ULTRAKILL's Home Sweet Home DLC both landed during Early Access — so "crossover" here means something concrete: new catchable content, not just a marketing tie-in. That history is exactly why Buckley's "tomorrow" is worth taking seriously instead of reading as generic interview filler; Pocketpair has done this before and knows what a real crossover costs to build.
The honest throughline in Buckley's comments is that every one of these ideas is currently blocked by the same problem: fitting someone else's creatures and world into Palworld's specific systems (catching, taming, breeding, base work) without it feeling like a reskin. That's a real production cost, not a licensing formality, which is why "we'd do it tomorrow" comes with "if we could make it make sense" attached in the same sentence.
Nothing here is confirmed or dated. This is a stated wishlist from Pocketpair's own Head of Publishing, not an announcement, and no timeline, contract or in-game content has been confirmed for ARK, No Man's Sky or Enshrouded. Treat it as a strong signal of direction — and a reason to watch Pocketpair's news page — rather than something to build a route around yet.