Opinion: Palia - What They Say, What They Deliver - A Look At Monetization

No matter the company or the “field” they are in, there are always certain “constants” that they try to achieve. The biggest one is that they desire every year to be good, profitable, memorable, and a “banner year” for the company in some form. This can be especially true in the gaming space, as companies need to perform well every year to prove they can go up against their competitors and maintain their slice of their market. For 2023, there’s little doubt that Nintendo has had a year for the record books, and not just on the gaming side of things.

Maksym Yanchyi, lead Xbox programmer on Stalker 2, lets out a deep sigh. It’s not the first time Mak, as he’s called by his colleagues, steadies himself before revealing the horrifying difficulties the developers of one of the most anticipated shooters of 2024 face on a daily basis. Right now he’s talking about Russian hackers and their ongoing attempts to breach GSC Game World’s security systems, the constant harassment, and even death threats that have come from the theft of personal information.

Palia, the new cozy MMO on the block, is continuing its journey through open beta, kicking off its first big event to give players a sense of the sort of thing that comes along to break up the regular gameplay loops. While there's a lot that players love about the chill online game though, plenty feel the event is another instance of introducing something that goes against Palia's core tenets, which is being a stress-free experience that respects your time. 

A Star Citizen player is pointing out to disappointed Starfield fans that planet exploration isn't all its made out to be.

Now that Palia has been in open beta on PC for a couple of weeks, the team is updating the community after feedback on monetization. This comes as a new game update adds the Maji Market event, new emote, and fixes.

Even though Starfield isn’t out yet, there’s been so much content and sneak previews for the game that some people are trying to piece it together ahead of schedule. For example, one person has decided to recreate an outpost styled after the upcoming sci-fi RPG in something other than Bethesda’s in-house engine.

What exactly is involved when a publisher decides to partner with AMD for a game? An increasing number of titles have been doing it, and many have noted this seems to result in those games only featuring AMD’s FSR upscaling tech (rather than NVIDIA’s DLSS) at launch. It was true with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and will also be the case with Starfield. That said, it’s just been revealed Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will have FSR and DLSS despite being an AMD partner game. So, what’s the deal here?

Palia’s first major in-game event has been revealed, the Maji Market, and with it comes new activities, quests, and items for players to unlock during the month-long event. This includes a new night market, stamp cards, and plenty of rewards for players to earn, making this a big addition to the cozy MMO.

Starting next week, players of developer Singularity 6's Palia will be able to dive into the cozy MMO's first limited-time event called Maji Market.

If you’re trying to deck out your place with some impressive food, sushi will be on that list. It looks and tastes good, but it’s too bad that besides Focus, there isn’t much of a benefit from having it in Palia besides being a little treat for the eyes. If you require money, selling sushi can also turn a profit. Or, maybe if you’re after achievements, the only way to get the one for Palia Chef is by cooking it at least once. Whatever your sushi situation is, we have a guide on how to get one of the hardest-to-find meals in Palia.

It’s been a great few years for cozy games, games where you settle in, build relationships and home, farm, fish, and create a life you’d enjoy. While most of these are single-player games or have a basic multiplayer element, a cozy MMO just opened up its beta, albeit with mixed success: Palia.

It may only be a crumb to satiate those hungry for the return of David Fincher and Michael Fassbender, but there’s a new image of their film out there, ready to hoover up.