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Palworld dropped the early access tag on July 10 and Steam felt it immediately. Pocketpair's pal-catching survival game climbed to 485,501 players online at once on launch day, its biggest crowd since the sheer madness of January 2024.
No, that is not a new record, and nobody sane expected one. The early access debut peaked north of 2.1 million concurrents, which still sits third all-time on Steam. But pulling nearly half a million people back in, two and a half years after the hype supposedly died? That says plenty.
What 1.0 actually brings
The patch notes run long enough to qualify as light reading. A new region, another batch of pals, fresh points of interest and structures, and an end-game scenario that finally gives all that grinding somewhere to land. Player reviews on Steam have been sitting around 96% positive since the update went live, and one theme keeps coming back in them: the folks who bounced off Palworld in 2024 are returning, and this time they are staying.
Release: 18 Jan 2024
Is this the end of the road?
Not according to Pocketpair. Publishing manager John Buckley says development carries on, while also warning people off dreams of a No Man's Sky style reinvention, because the engine only bends so far. A 2.0 has not been ruled out. It has not been promised either, so keep the expectations sensible.
Either way, the numbers are ridiculous for a project half the internet wrote off as the Pokemon-with-guns meme. Palworld has now cleared 40 million players across PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, and 1.0 is the version it will actually be judged on.
Did you jump back in for the full release, or did you never leave? Drop it in the comments.
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