Palworld has achieved a remarkable milestone by setting a new record as the biggest third-party launch in the history of Xbox Game Pass.
Since its release on January 19, Palworld has captivated over 19 million players worldwide, a combined total that adds 12 million on Steam and 7 million on Xbox, including Xbox Series S/X and Xbox One, as well as PC Game Pass users. This is despite the marked differences between the game’s performance on Game Pass and Steam.
Pocketpair’s creature-hunting game, still in its early access phase, has now outperformed several major titles, eclipsing the all-time launch record of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and the sales of popular Pokémon games like Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
🎉Total number of players exceeds 19 million🎉
It's been less than two weeks since #Palworld was released, thank you!
・Steam: 12 million~ copies
・Xbox: 7 million~ playersWe will continue to prioritize fixing bugs!
Thank you for your continued support of #Pocketpair! pic.twitter.com/twgAeYVL07— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) January 31, 2024
The record-breaking success of Palworld on Xbox Game Pass is more than about the numbers that it’s posting. It reflects the game’s widespread appeal and engaging content, which has drawn nearly three million daily active users on Xbox. It is this surge in popularity that has led to Palworld becoming the most-played game on Xbox during this period. It’s now more popular than the previous record-holder, High on Life from Squanch Games, which also boasted millions of players on Xbox as of late 2022.
Palworld’s unique blend of survival and crafting elements, set in a world where players can catch and interact with Pals, which are essentially Pokémon-like creatures, has struck a chord with gamers. The game’s success is evident in its Steam performance, where it became just the second game to ever hit two million concurrent players on the platform as it has maintained an average of 1.1 million daily users. This figure, combined with Xbox’s estimate of three million daily active users, indicates around four million players engaging with Palworld daily.
The overwhelming response from the gaming community has been acknowledged by Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe, who expressed gratitude for the support and emphasized the team’s commitment to refining and enhancing the game experience. Pocketpair has a content roadmap in place, focusing on bug fixes and adding features like raid bosses, PvP, and cross-play support.
Xbox’s collaboration with Pocketpair extends beyond mere platform support and exclusivity. Xbox is also assisting in dedicated server implementation, engineering resources for GPU and memory optimization, and expediting updates for Palworld, optimizing the title for the Xbox platform. This support is crucial for maintaining the game’s momentum and ensuring a seamless experience across all platforms.
True to this, better implementation on Xbox is part of Palworld’s surprisingly robust roadmap, which, at the moment, is focused on critical fixes.
While Palworld’s momentum has understandably slowed down in recent days after threatening to set a new Steam record for peak concurrent player count, the latest numbers prove that the game continues with its upwards trajectory.
As Pocketpair continues to develop Palworld, aiming for a full release in 2025, the game’s early achievements hint at an even brighter future. With its record-breaking launch on Xbox Game Pass and its impressive player base, Palworld has firmly established itself as a significant player in the gaming world.
The only question now is, when is Palworld hitting PlayStation and mobile platforms?
