There’s a lot of talk these days about games that fall off in terms of playercount shortly after release, even ones with huge launches. As a game that is not technically a live service, it seemed likely that would happen to Palworld after its big 1.0 launch, as is the way of things. So far? That is…not the case. Checking the numbers, Palworld’s concurrent player peaks are just as high, if not higher, than they were two weeks ago, still not dropping below its initial launch.
Two weeks ago on Saturday, July 14, Palworld topped out with 725,000 concurrent Steam players shortly after release. As of last night, it had a peak of 739,000, and it has not dipped below those initial figures yet. Given that we are headed into the weekend, that figure is likely to climb. At 8 AM ET, Palworld already has 653,000 concurrents.
The ultimate peak for the game happened last weekend, when it hit a high of 961,000 concurrent players, which, itself, would be one of the highest concurrent totals in Steam history, the original game in third place with its insane 2.1 million total during its first Early Access launch. And Palworld is doing all this as a paid game, as well, not free-to-play. Palworld also has a significant presence on consoles, including being on Xbox Game Pass, which we cannot track.
Why is Palworld maintaining these kinds of numbers well past its launch? Even as a game where you can technically roll credits?
Well, speaking as someone who has Palworld running in the background as I’m writing this article, it is insanely addicting. I’m currently crafting AI cores and waiting for my expedition away team to bring me back some precious Ancient Civilization Cores. And, of course, all my various resource gathering teams are working passively to give me piles of materials.
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There are countless things to do in the game, from catching Pals to breeding them to building elaborate bases to exploring the world. That last point reminds me of Crimson Desert a bit, as I have readers sharing screenshots with me about how they’ve only explored a relatively small portion of the map despite being level 60+. There is just so much stuff to work on, and it’s easy to put off the World Tree final segment indefinitely. But even if you do that, there are “true” endgame farms there for making the strongest Pals possible. The best players I know have struggled with some of the endgame raids and bosses, despite creating godly Pals. There will be something to do…forever, if you want to play.a
Sure, the original was addicting too, but at launch, it was probably half the game we’re seeing now between zone, Pal, gear and systems additions, making this a much more fleshed-out game in 1.0. No, this probably won’t last forever, but it shows that Palworld has serious staying power and needs to be treated as the industry force it is.
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