Eye-catching ‘Pokémon with guns’ survival game Palworld has already sold a staggering 1m copies according to its developer Pocketpair, just hours into its early access launch on Steam and Xbox Series X/S. That’s as the studio addresses the lack of 32-player dedicated servers on Xbox and PC Game Pass, saying the situation is “not up to us”.
Palworld’s whole thing, if you’re unfamiliar, is that it combines Pokémon-style creature catching with open-world survival and crafting, giving players the option to exploit (or eat) their Pals in the name of completing tasks more efficiently if they so choose.
It’s a proposition that’s evidently resonated with players in a big way; Pocketpair has taken to social media to announce that Palworld “has sold over 1m copies in about eight hours since release”. That’s an astonishing number, particularly given that Palworld’s day-one inclusion on Game Pass means plenty of people can play right now without directly purchasing the game.
At the time of writing, Steam is reporting Palworld as its top-selling game, with over 370,000 people currently playing – making it the store’s third most-played title at present. That mega-success has already resulted in launch-day server woes, with Pocketpair warning of possible server instability and connection issues due to a large influx of players.
Pocketpair has also moved to address another hot-topic issue regarding its servers; currently, while Steam users can join dedicated servers to experience the game with up to 32 players, online multiplayer is limited to 2-4 player co-op on Xbox – a restriction that also applies when playing via PC Game Pass or the Microsoft Store.
Discussing the issue on Palworld’s official Discord channel, Pocketpair acknowledged the discrepancy, adding it would “like to have dedicated servers on Xbox” but that it was “unfortunately not up to us and is quite difficult to negotiate at this time”. While dedicated servers aren’t currently available on all platforms, the studio noted Xbox and “Xbox PC” can crossplay together, and that it’s currently “working on” introducing crossplay with Steam.
The good news, according to Eurogamer’s Zoe Delahunty-Light – who proclaims to “adore” Palworld – is that its early access launch niggles don’t detract from a surprisingly enjoyable experience. “It’s not perfect,” she explains in her early access video review, highlighting issues including underwhelming dungeons and a lack of quests, “but all of those things kind of fade into the background once I’m in” the game. Palworld is currently expected to remain in early access for at least a year, so there’s plenty of time for improvements to come.
