Palworld: A Thrilling Success Story

Palworld, the survival and crafting game featuring “Pokémons with weapons,” has achieved astounding success over the weekend, catapulting to the top of Steam’s most popular games list and selling millions of additional copies. Earning the title of the most popular game on Steam, Palworld surpassed giants like Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and PUBG.

Palworld, released in early access on January 19th, is currently the most successful game from a Japanese publisher in Steam’s history, surpassing the previous record-holder, Elden Ring. Additionally, Palworld stands as the second most popular paid game on Steam after PUBG, which reached an impressive 3,257,248 concurrent players before becoming free.

In just three days, Palworld has sold over five million copies, with 86,000 copies being sold within the first hour. To put this into perspective, popular titles like Spider-Man from Insomniac Games sold 3.3 million copies in its first three days, God of War from Sony Santa Monica Studio sold 3.1 million, and The Last of Us 2 from Naughty Dog sold 4 million copies in the same time frame. Palworld’s rapid sales have surpassed any other exclusive game on the PS4 platform, as well as setting records on Steam.

Although Palworld has experienced enormous success, it hasn’t been without controversy. Certain Pokémon fans have raised concerns about the similarity between Pals in Palworld and the actual Pokémon creatures. Furthermore, the Xbox version lags behind the Steam version in terms of key features and updates. The overwhelming demand for Palworld has also caused server issues.

Be sure to check out IGN’s review of Palworld’s early access version to learn about our initial impressions.

Written by Wesley, IGN News Editor in the United Kingdom. Follow him on Twitter at @wyp100.

Contact Wesley at [email protected] or discreetly at [email protected].