Game Freak mobile game shuts down (no, not that one)

If you asked a crowd to name a Game Freak series, 99 out of 100 people would say Pokémon. And that other one person would be lying. It is a behemoth, and yet, maybe the magic does not extend as far as we thought. It has been announced that their mobile game, Pandoland, is shutting down this year.

Now, I know what you are thinking: what is Pandoland? And you know how I know? Because it is my job to know this stuff, and I completely forgot this was ever a thing. Which, for a company as big as Game Freak, is a glaring red flag. Although, to be fair, part of the blame can fall on publisher WonderPlanet. I am still sore that Alice Fiction shuttered under their watch.

Pandoland is, or soon to be was, an Action RPG that has quite a cutesy style. Think Minecraft, but more cartoony, and you are there. You put together a team out of humans and an assortment of fantastical creatures and tackled dungeons. Kind of like Pokémon Quest, which I think highlights the issue.

Both Pandoland and Pokémon Quest sit in the mid-4 ratings on Google Play and the App Store. In fact, Pandoland is rated higher and yet has downloads in the hundreds of thousands. Pokémon Quest crossed one million in two days. It is a shame that one mega-franchise will eclipse the company's other works. 

But back to specifics. Despite only going global in April 2025, Pandoland will be closing its doors on March 6th. There is no official reason as to why, but we can assume the abysmal download numbers had something to do with it. Not to mention that it seems the playerbase took umbrage at the high levels of monetisation. I hope the rise of the de-gachafysation of mobile gaming continues this year.

For those who want to gawk at the dead man walking, Pandoland is available on Android and Apple.