Palworld just had a monster of a weekend, pulling in a peak of 855,525 concurrent players on Steam for its 1.0 launch - the second-highest turnout the game has ever seen. Pocketpair's creature-collector recently celebrated its launch into 1.0 and out of early access, and the devs were rewarded with the best numbers since the game first hit early access back in January 2024.
That massive turnout landed Palworld right back near the top of the Steam charts, and it did not go uncelebrated - especially by Pocketpair's head of publishing and communications, John "Bucky" Buckley.
Quote From Bucky I promise I'll try not to just be posting Steam numbers every day but really, thank you so much, gamers. Obviously, we had high expectations for 1.0 internally, but this is staggering. We really hope you are enjoying your time in Palworld again.
How does 855K stack up against Palworld's all-time record?
As impressive as the 1.0 turnout is, it still sits comfortably behind Palworld's all-time peak of 2.1 million players - a ridiculous milestone that puts it above the likes of Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and Monster Hunter Wilds. In fact, the only two games that have managed to top Palworld's all-time Steam player count are Black Myth: Wukong and PUBG.
The 1.0 release arrived with a hefty package too, including 27 pages of patch notes and, as we reported previously, no price hike. Pocketpair also quietly reworked some of its most Pokemon-like Pals ahead of the big day.
What do players want next?
With the full release out, players are already doing what players always do - asking for more. Ideas being thrown around include:
Randomised maps
Switched-out resource nodes
Sequel... come on guys... lol
Turns out folks really can't get enough of Pokemon Pals with guns.
Is base-building still a sore spot?
Not everyone is asking for new content, though. Some players want fixes first - and base-building is a common pain point. As one player put it, they just want the devs to finally polish the many systems tied to bases and Pal behavior: building and stability, missing pieces, pathfinding and interactions, clipping, and proper work priorities. In their words, the current state is fine for early access but "hard to accept for a full release."
After such a strong launch weekend, Palworld's biggest challenge - like any game - will be retaining players. It doesn't need to hit last weekend's heights every day; even a fraction of that would still be impressive. But with so much competition out there, it'll have to keep players hooked one way or another. Given that the game recently passed 40 million players ahead of the 1.0 launch, we'd say it's off to a solid start.
Are you back in Palworld for 1.0, or holding out for those base-building fixes? Let us know in the comments!
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