Summary

  • Palworld has quickly gained popularity and has exceeded 19 million total players in less than two weeks.
  • The game is available on Xbox Game Pass and has become the biggest third-party launch in the service's history.
  • The Steam version of Palworld is considered more polished than the Xbox version, but updates are being released to improve the console experience.

After less than two weeks, Palworld confirmed the total player count between Xbox and PC has exceeded 19 million. Anyone who has been even remotely paying attention to the gaming industry the past couple of weeks knows Palworld is incredibly popular, and the indie title doesn't appear to be slowing down at all. Palworld is often dubbed "Pokemon with guns," but the game has proven to be much more as it has experienced quite a meteoric rise since releasing in early access on January 19.

Despite various controversies, Palworld continues to dominate. The game's availability on Xbox Game Pass means subscribers can try out the new title for no additional cost, but the monster-collecting survival shooter is setting records on Steam as well. A day after its release, Palworld was already one of the most popular Steam games of all time. It proceeded to overtake popular games like Counter-Strike to garner the second-most concurrent players on Steam ever.

Palworld is sharing its exciting success with fans on social media, reporting to have sold roughly 12 million copies on Steam and totaling around 7 million players on Xbox. In less than two weeks, the game has attracted more than 19 million total players. Palworld has proven to be sensational for Xbox Game Pass as it has become the biggest third-party launch in the service's history. Not to mention, it's the most-played day one third-party via cloud streaming, according to Xbox Wire. The Palworld team concludes the post by thanking fans for their support and stating the devs "will continue to prioritize fixing bugs."

Palworld Player Stats as of January 31, 2024

  • More than 19 million total players
  • Steam: 12 million copies sold
  • Xbox: 7 million players

So far, the Steam version of the game is seen as more polished than its Xbox counterpart thanks to improved performance and additional settings. Palworld recently released an update for Xbox that serves as a much-needed improvement to stability, getting the console iteration closer to the standard set by the Steam version. Either way, bugs and missing features are to be expected as the game has yet to reach its 1.0 release.

Palworld base

Of course, the unforeseen success of Palworld has also been a challenge for the development team as they have had to work to address countless issues due to congestion. Still, Palworld released its future content roadmap for those wondering what to expect from the game in the future aside from bug fixes. The developers are planning to add new Pals, islands, and bosses alongside crossplay and PvP.

While the game has proven to be a massive success, much of the talk about Palworld has revolved around controversial similarities between it and Pokemon. No legal action has yet been taken, but The Pokemon Company did issue a statement concerning Palworld, stating it intends to investigate the matter.

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Palworld
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Released
January 19, 2024
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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!

Developer(s)
Pocket Pair, Inc.
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Publisher(s)
Pocket Pair, Inc.
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Genre(s)
Open-World, Shooter, Survival