Throughout the weekend, Palworld’s incredible success continued to grow as the survival and crafting game “Pokémon with guns” soared up Steam’s most-played list and sold millions more copies.
Palworld debuted alongside Game Pass on January 19 in early access on Steam, Xbox, and Windows PC. With 1,291,967 players online at the same moment on Valve’s platform, Palworld surpassed CD Projekt’s Cyberpunk 2077 to achieve the fifth-highest peak concurrent player count on Steam. Palworld has surpassed the likes of Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds to become the most-played game on Steam right now. On Steam, it is just the sixth game to reach one million concurrent users.
This triumph on Steam is accompanied by other Steam records. Palworld has surpassed Elden Ring to become the most-played Japanese-developed game on Steam to date. PocketPair, the game’s creator, is located in Tokyo. Palworld is the second most played paid game on Steam history, trailing only PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) at its perhaps unbeatable high concurrent number of 3,257,248 a record established before the battle royale’s free-to-play launch.
In the meanwhile, Pocketpair reported that Palworld had sold over five million copies in around three days, with an hourly rate of 86,000 sales. For comparison, Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man sold 3.3 million copies in its first three days of availability, followed by Sony Santa Monica Studio’s God of War, which sold 3.1 million, and Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us 2, which sold 4 million. Therefore, in a three-day sales window, Palworld has sold more than any previous first-party PS4 exclusive. And that’s all even though it was available on Game Pass from day one.
About the game
The action-adventure survival game PalWorld was created by Pocket Pair, a Japanese company. Animal-like beings known as “Pals” occupy the game’s open universe. Pals can be used by the players for base construction, exploration, and fighting if they are defeated in battle and captured. Palworld may be played online by up to 32 people on a single server or by one person alone. Initially revealed in 2021, it was made available for Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S early access in January 2024.
The game became known as Pokémon With Guns due to its humorous premise, which includes utilizing weapons and arming Pals with them. Other aspects have also drawn attention, such as the use of animals as food or labor in factories and mines.
Palworld allows users to explore the open-world Palpagos Islands and learn about its secrets by controlling a customizable avatar in a third-person viewpoint. Players must control their hunger, make simple tools, gather resources, and construct bases that double as quick transit hubs, just like in previous survival games.
Conclusion
Palworld is undoubtedly a huge success, but it is not without criticism. In other areas, major features and upgrades for the Xbox version are still behind those of the Steam version. Palworld’s servers have experienced difficulties since its massive debut.
