Palworld’s developer gives staff day off after Monster Hunter Wilds causes ‘a series of mysterious reports from many employees that they may feel unwell’

Monster Hunter Wilds is, well, real popular right now. With over 1.1 million people hopping into the game on Steam alone in less than 6 hours, it seems like everyone and their Palicos are venturing into the wastes to slay some beasties. So much so, in fact, that several companies in Japan are simply throwing up their hands and saying fine, fine, take the day off.

This includes Palworld’s developer Pocketpair, which posted to X this morning the following (machine-translated) statement: “For some reason, many employees have reported that they may be feeling unwell tomorrow, so tomorrow [they’ve] been given an extra day off.” The full image also reads:

“Regarding February 28th, we have received a series of mysterious reports from many employees that they may feel unwell tomorrow, so the company has decided to institute a special holiday.” Not everyone’s got the day off, mind—there’s a note that some departments are excluded, and “updates to ‘PalWorld’ and ‘Craftopia’ are progressing smoothly and are expected to be implemented as scheduled.”

Over on the game’s subreddit, other Japanese players have shown that their local companies are closing doors for the day. The notice below informs its employees of its recommended holiday leave, who is being recommended said holiday leave, and then, with little fanfare or insinuation, “February 28th is the release date for Monster Hunter Wilds.” Like it’s a coincidence and not the reason behind the exercise.

Our Local Companies Recommend Employees to Take Leave on MHWilds Release Day from r/MonsterHunter

In another thread, one user writes: “I live in Japan, a suspicious number of our staff are already calling off for tomorrow. As a manager I feel I should probably mention the obvious at our manager meetings as to why they might be off, but as a hunter I wish them well. I am not mentioning anything at the manager meetings.”

This isn’t even necessarily unprecedented—the last Monster Hunter title caused a mysterious wave of sickness and officially-posted holidays, too.

Alas, being a games journalist, big releases like this tend to mean I have to work more, not less, but I am capable of grace in the face of professional obligation. Besides, we’re working more so you can get the most out of your holiday time, don’t say we never gave you nothin’. Our writers at PC Gamer have put up a staggering amount of Monster Hunter Wilds guides, and we’ve got a live page to keep you up-to-date on all the happenings of this most auspicious, sickness-causing launch day.