Two and a half years. That’s how long the World Tree has been sitting behind that red barrier, taunting every single one of us who glanced northwest and wondered what Pocketpair was hiding.
The wait ends this week. Palworld 1.0 launches Friday, July 10, 2026, and I’ve got the exact times, the save data answer everyone keeps asking about, and a quick prep checklist so you’re not scrambling at midnight.
The Exact Release Time
Pocketpair is targeting around 12:30 PM JST on July 10, per a post from the official Palworld X account. They’ve been upfront that this is an estimate, not a promise. Big launches slip. Plan around it, don’t set your watch to it.
Here’s what that works out to in your timezone:
| Region | Local Time |
|---|---|
| Japan (JST) | Fri, July 10, ~12:30 PM |
| US East Coast (EDT) | Thu, July 9, ~11:30 PM |
| US West Coast (PDT) | Thu, July 9, ~8:30 PM |
| UK (BST) | Fri, July 10, ~4:30 AM |
| Central Europe (CEST) | Fri, July 10, ~5:30 AM |
Yes, US players. It drops Thursday night for us. West Coast folks get a civilized evening launch. East Coast, you’re deciding between sleep and Sky Islands. I know which one I’m picking, and Friday-morning me is going to be furious about it.
What Platforms Get It (And What It Costs)
Everything, everywhere, all at once. Steam, Microsoft Store, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and day one on Game Pass. Crossplay stays intact.
The best part: if you already own Palworld, 1.0 is completely free. No deluxe edition, no upgrade fee, no “1.0 content pack” nonsense. You download the update and that’s it.
If you don’t own it yet, the Steam Summer Sale has it at 30% off ($20.99 instead of $29.99), and that sale window closes right around launch. Pocketpair’s own Steam FAQ has hinted the price could rise around the full release. If you’ve been on the fence, this is the cheapest Palworld may ever be.
One heads up: there’s still no Switch version. Sorry, handheld crew.
Do You Lose Your Save?
No. Let me repeat that for the people in the back: 1.0 will not wipe your save. Your world, your bases, your shiny Pals with the perfect passives all carry over.
But here’s the wrinkle. Pocketpair recommends starting a fresh save anyway. The 1.0 update reworks the opening experience, the story, progression pacing, and entire regions. Dropping into your level-60 endgame save means skipping most of what makes this a full launch.
My take as someone with limited gaming hours: keep the old save as a museum, start fresh for the story, and don’t feel guilty about either choice. There’s no wrong answer here. There’s just the answer that gets you excited to play.
Your Pre-Launch Checklist
Launch is roughly a day away. Here’s how to spend 20 minutes of it:
- Back up your save. No wipe is planned, but major version updates have a long history of corrupting exactly the save you cared about. Copy the files. It takes two minutes.
- Decide on the fresh start question now. Don’t burn your first hour of launch night staring at the menu.
- Clean out your Palbox. If your Global Palbox looks like my garage, sort it before a wave of new Pals makes it worse.
- Wrap up unfinished business. Got a boss you never beat or a base project half done? Finish it or make peace with leaving it behind.
- Server owners: back up your world files and expect to update via the usual process on launch day.
What’s Actually In the Update?
The patch notes run 27 pages, and Pocketpair has kept them sealed until launch. What’s confirmed: the World Tree finally opens as the endgame region, Sky Islands float above Palpagos, the new Wing Pack lets you glide without burning a party slot, tower bosses got reworked, and there are more new Pals than any update in the game’s history.
We’ll have the full patch notes breakdown live the moment they drop, plus day-one guides for everything above. Bookmark us.
Update, July 15: the launch beat its own schedule, going live around 11:00 AM JST, roughly 90 minutes early. The comeback was real too: Palworld peaked at 855,525 concurrent Steam players on Sunday, up from a roughly 35,000-player nightly baseline the week before. Pocketpair has already shipped the first hotfix (v1.0.1, build 1.100.619) with launch-week bug fixes.
Two and a half years of Early Access, one Nintendo lawsuit that basically fell apart, and 27 pages of secrets. Thursday night is finally almost here.
Starting fresh or riding your old save into 1.0? Come argue about it with us in the TAG Discord: https://discord.gg/bp2qn6mwC3
📌 Save Palworld 1.0 Release Time: When It Drops and What to Do First to your backlog
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