Two and a half years after it broke the internet, Palworld is finally putting a 1.0 on the box. Pocketpair confirmed the survival-crafting hit exits Early Access with Version 1.0 on July 10, 2026. The timing is deliberate, with a midday Japan-time drop planned.
The launch itself, and why the clock matters
Pocketpair cannot pin an exact minute, but the plan is to flip 1.0 live around midday JST on July 10, 2026. For everyone outside Japan that lands on the evening of July 9, 2026 or the morning of July 10, 2026 depending on your zone. Check the Steam countdown rather than guessing, because midday Japan is a moving target once converted.
The detail that matters more than the hour is that this is the full release, not a content drip. Early Access on Palworld was never a quiet beta. It shipped a genuinely complete loop on day one and then kept adding for 30 months, from January 2024 to July 2026.
Version 1.0 is the capstone, not a restart. The studio’s trailer reveal frames the update as the refine step applied to the whole game at once.
What 1.0 actually adds
Pocketpair has been cagey with a full patch list, but the studio’s trailer reveal and the steady cadence of updates since Feybreak point to concrete things landing with the version bump. A base-building rework is included in the 1.0 build.
The Sakurajima and Feybreak expansions already stretched the building system. Version 1.0 folds those experiments into a cleaner foundation rather than bolting on more.
New Pals and endgame structure arrive as well. Every major drop this far added creatures and a reason to use them, such as the Pals introduced with Feybreak.
A stability and performance pass is part of the build. Early Access Palworld on weaker hardware was rough, and the 1.0 build is where the rough edges get sanded, according to the Pocketpair newsroom.
The honest read is that Pocketpair’s pattern across 30 months has been ship then refine. Version 1.0 is the refine step applied to the whole game at once.
The wipe question nobody’s answering cleanly
Here is the one thing every returning player argues about. Pocketpair says you do not have to wipe your data for 1.0 on July 10, 2026.
But the studio also says you probably should, and they are not wrong. A 2.5-year-old save is carrying every legacy quirk, every pre-balance-change Pal, every base built around mechanics that 1.0 reshapes.
The game will run. It just will not run like a 1.0 save.
If you are coming back after a long break, a fresh world is the cleaner way to actually see what changed. Keep your save if you are mid-progress and happy, or attached to a specific base or Pal collection.
Wipe if you are returning after months away and want the real 1.0 experience, or your old world is already a haunted museum of deprecated systems. Specifically, players who last played before the Feybreak expansion should consider a wipe.
People also ask: Palworld 1.0 launch questions
Will Palworld 1.0 cost extra for owners? The launch is free for anyone who already owns it, per the official announcement. New players pay the standard Steam price.
Does Palworld 1.0 force a save wipe? No. Pocketpair explicitly states you do not have to wipe for the July 10, 2026 update. The studio recommends a wipe only for those wanting the cleanest 1.0 experience after a long absence.
What time does Palworld 1.0 go live? The plan is midday JST on July 10, 2026. That converts to evening July 9, 2026 or morning July 10, 2026 in many other regions.
Should you care if you skipped it before?
If the early access label put you off, 1.0 removes that label on July 10, 2026. That framing was always a lazy shorthand for a base-builder with creature collecting bolted to the front.
If you liked the idea of a survival game where automation and creature labor matter, this is the most complete version of that pitch Pocketpair has shipped. The launch ends Early Access and marks the line.
Before July 10, 2026, Palworld was a very good Early Access game. After it, it is just a game, and that is the milestone the studio has built toward since January 2024.
Bottom line: Owners should launch Palworld on July 10, 2026 at midday JST via the Pocketpair update and start a fresh save if they have been away since before the Feybreak expansion to see the reworked base system and new Pals as intended.
