"I think we're a few years away from someone attempting a AAA survival crafting game. I think it's coming." That's John Buckley, head of publishing and communications at Pocketpair, speaking with confidence about a genre that has thrived almost entirely without big-budget backing.
Buckley, better known online as Bucky, made the comments during an interview at GDC 2026. The man behind Palworld's publishing push isn't just watching the survival genre from the sidelines. He's been living inside it, and his read on where things are heading is worth paying attention to.
The Genre That AAA Studios Keep Ignoring
Survival crafting has been printing money for years. Minecraft, Rust, Valheim, ARK, Palworld itself. These games have collectively pulled in hundreds of millions of players, and yet the major publishers have largely stayed away from building their own entries with serious budgets behind them.
Buckley thinks that's about to change. "I think there's an exciting future in survival crafting, and I think we're going to see more and more people start to kind of borrow elements from it," he said. The key here is that he's not just talking about features being lifted and dropped into existing franchises. He's predicting a full AAA attempt at the genre itself.
Here's the thing: the demand is clearly there. Palworld launched into early access and became one of the fastest-selling games in Steam history. The appetite for polished, content-rich survival experiences is enormous. What's missing is the AAA-scale execution.
Blizzard's Canceled Odyssey and What Could Have Been
Buckley didn't have to think hard when the conversation turned to who had come closest. Blizzard Entertainment had been developing a fantasy survival game internally codenamed Odyssey, and it was quietly generating real excitement before it was killed off. The cancellation came under a wave of layoffs that hit both Blizzard and Activision Blizzard following Microsoft's acquisition, with some Odyssey developers reportedly shifted onto other projects.
"Yeah, that was the one everyone... I was super excited for that," Buckley said, with the kind of genuine disappointment that doesn't need any embellishment.
It's a painful example of what the genre is still waiting for. Blizzard had the budget, the brand recognition, and the track record to potentially deliver something that could have pushed survival crafting into a new tier entirely. Instead, it became another casualty of the industry's ongoing consolidation chaos.
Palworld combat and base defense
"It's Hard to Imagine Who Would Do It"
Buckley is optimistic, but he's not naive. "It's hard to imagine who would do it, but I think someone's gonna try," he admitted. That's a fair tension to sit with. The survival crafting genre rewards iteration and community feedback over long development cycles, which runs counter to how most AAA studios operate. Massive upfront budgets, fixed release windows, and shareholder expectations don't pair naturally with the kind of organic, community-shaped development that made Palworld and Valheim what they are.
Still, the commercial case is hard to argue against. And with Palworld continuing to grow, including its upcoming mobile expansion in partnership with Krafton, the proof of concept for this genre reaching mainstream audiences keeps getting stronger.
What most players miss is that the survival crafting space isn't just a PC niche anymore. It's a proven mainstream draw, and that's exactly the kind of data point that makes big publishers start sharpening their pencils.
Someone is going to make that big swing. Whether they stick the landing is another question entirely, but Buckley seems ready for the moment it happens. Keep your eyes on the major publisher showcase calendars. The AAA survival crafting era might be closer than it looks. Make sure to check out more:
