Summary

  • Palworld's multiplayer is currently not functional for many players due to its servers struggling to keep up with all the traffic.
  • Players are advised to try connecting a few times if their first attempt to do so fails. The developer said it's looking to resolve the issues ASAP.
  • Palworld is still an early access title, so some amount of technical issues of this sort is to be expected.

Palworld multiplayer is currently not working for many players, seemingly because the game's servers are struggling to keep up with the demand. While inconvenient for the fans, this state of affairs is also a testament to Palworld's immense launch day success.

Developed by Tokyo, Japan-based Pocketpair, Palworld is an open-world survival game that features everything from monster taming and crafting to dungeon crawling and poaching. Given that distinct list of gameplay features, Palworld has been widely dubbed as "Pokemon with guns" by the fandom.

Angry Pikachu doodle with Palworld logo and characters on blue background
Some Pokemon Fans Are Not Happy About Palworld

A vocal portion of the Pokemon fandom takes to social media to share some harsh opinions about Palworld, the latest day-one Xbox Game Pass title.

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Palworld Multiplayer Servers Have 'Become Unstable'

And while its unique gameplay formula also includes multiplayer, many players are reporting that this particular aspect of the game is effectively broken as of this writing, mere hours into Palworld's January 19 release. Pocketpair has already acknowledged these complaints on Twitter, stating that its servers have "become unstable" due to the sheer volume of traffic that they are currently receiving. As a result, there is an increased chance of connection issues while the situation is ongoing.

The Japanese studio said that it's looking into resolving this issue as soon as possible. In the meantime, players eager to jump into Palworld's multiplayer are advised to try connecting a couple of times if their initial attempt to do so fails. Everyone else can simply wait out these issues until Pocketpair finds a permanent solution to them. There is currently no way to check the Palworld server status. The game itself was only launched in early access today, so some growing pains of this sort are to be expected.

More Palworld Multiplayer Updates Are in the Pipeline

Palworld's multiplayer currently comprises a co-op mode for up to four players, as well as support for dedicated servers allowing up to 32 people to play together. Pocketpair previously said that PvP is part of its content agenda as well, vowing to implement it in a future update. The developer also intends to eventually increase the player limit of its dedicated servers, but as these launch-day issues demonstrate, Palworld is still someway off from being able to support an even more ambitious multiplayer experience.

Despite these hiccups, the game has already proved to be a smashing hit, with Pocketpair just revealing that it surpassed 1 million sales within eight hours of its debut. The fact that Palworld was a day-one Xbox Game Pass release likely contributed to its success, although Steam users appear to be responsible for at least half of its total sales.

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Palworld Tag Page Cover Art

Palworld
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Open-World
Shooter
Survival
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Systems
PC-1 PlayStation-1 Xbox-1
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Top Critic Avg: 71 /100 Critics Rec: 58%
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Released
January 19, 2024
ESRB
T For Teen Due To Violence
Developer(s)
Pocket Pair, Inc.
Publisher(s)
Pocket Pair, Inc.
Engine
Unreal Engine 5
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Cross-Platform Play
Xbox Series X|S, pc
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WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
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In this game, you can peacefully live alongside mysterious creatures known as Pals or risk your life to drive off a ruthless poaching syndicate. Pals can be used to fight and breed, or they can be made to work on farms or factories. You can even sell them or eat them.
Survival: In a harsh environment where food is scarce and vicious poachers roam, danger waits around every corner. To survive, you must tread carefully and make difficult choices...even if that means eating your own Pals when the time comes.
Mounts & Exploration: Pals can be mounted to traverse the land, sea and sky—allowing you to traverse all kinds of environment as you explore the world.
Collect all kinds of exciting Pals to fight, farm, build, and work for you in this completely new multiplayer, open world survival and crafting game!

Genre(s)
Open-World, Shooter, Survival