Palworld Is Now Top 3 Most Played Game in Steam, and It Hasn’t Been a Week Since Lanch
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Pocketpair’s Survivor Pokemon-like game released on Early Access on Steam and in PC Game Pass on January 19 and it’s already breaking all kinds of records, officially making it 2024’s biggest breakout game as it’s now in the top 3 most played game on Steam of all time, beating games like even Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2.
Palworld now holds second place with an all-time concurrent player count of over 1.8 million. If the Early Access games want the number one spot, they have their work cut out for them as PUBG: Battlegrounds still holds the top spot with an impressive all-time peak of 3.2 million.
What’s going on? Despite the various controversies that surround what people call ‘Pokemon with guns’, this has not affected the game’s success one bit. Many accuse Palworld for ripping some Pokemon designs, but the backlash isn’t making a dent on what’s going on.
In just four days since release on PC Game Pass and Steam, Palworld has reached triple-A sales numbers as they’ve sold 6 million copies to date. For comparison, that beats Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s impressive run of selling 5 million copies in 11 days. It has not reached Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom levels of success with the latest entry in the Zelda franchise reaching 10 million units sold in just 3 days, but for an early access game Palworld has a lot going for it.
What’s the deal?
I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the whole situation but there are various factors with the game’s success it revolves around Nintendo’s recent offering with the Pokemon franchise, which is obviously Palword’s biggest inspiration outside its survivor elements.
Pokemon fans have been given the same game for years with Pokemon Arceus being the only title in the franchise that is willing to step out of the series’ comfort zone. There are other examples of other spin-off titles from the series, but nothing that greatly shapes the mainline tiles. They did try something different with Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, delivering a more open-world experience, but various technical issues and game designs limited the game’s potential.
But with the slight changes done by Pokemon Company, it’s not even close to satisfying the fans of such a genre. That’s where Palworld comes in as the game was introduced by the indie Japanese studio Pocketfair back in 2021, and people were eating up the possibilities of such a game. It later was revealed it was more of a Survival game in the likes of Valheim where you build your base, beat bosses, and pretty much do whatever you want. But in Palworld, you get to create a community with the creatures you’ve caught and still aim to '“Catch them all”.
Accessibility is a big factor
Another major factor is the requirements to run the game as you can run the game smoothly with just even a GTX 1050. Even at the lowest possible settings, the game runs and looks great for an early-access game. We then have Palworld coming out in Early Access at a reasonable price of P910 (P810 at 10% off) which is also available on PC Game Pass to those subscribed.
Another big factor is that the game is coming out the gate with an impressive amount of content and systems that just work. There are definitely areas for improvement but the fun factor and the ability to get lost for hours is present for those that love Survivor games to begin with. You then have the Pokemon element of catching and fighting alongside those you catch, leveling them up, and even getting the Pals that are out living in your base to do all the resource gathering while you are away. Base building is basic if you compare it with the likes of other games with building systems, but it’s a good start considering all that is available. Multiplayer runs surprisingly well for those looking for a new game to play with friends or strangers and even after 10 hours played, I get that feeling that I haven’t even made a dent in what is out there in this Early Access game.
It hasn’t been a week and there’s still time for Palworld to shock the world even more and break even more records. Word of mouth is strong too that even family members who don’t occasionally keep tabs on the video game world have already heard of the Palworld anomaly. Right now, the biggest question that many are asking is whether Nintendo has the evidence to make a case and shut things down due to many Pal designs being greatly inspired by various Pokemon, but it’s unlikely that something would have happened by now. I doubt they can do things but anything can happen at this point as right now I’m certain Palword rise is just beginning, and I’m all for it.
Stellar Blade’s potential was clear, but as its ambitions expanded into something greater, it lost focus. As soon as Stellar Blade tries to bring everything together, it merges into a single figure that looks deformed and uneven. The quality is unquestionable but it wasn’t the final product I was slowly building in my head as I went through the game’s first half.