Palworld, the game now commonly referred to as ‘Pokémon with guns’ has sold over 5 million copies since its launch three days ago. The action-adventure survival game from Pocket Pair Inc. has seen unprecedented levels of adoption across Steam and Xbox over the weekend.
On Friday, Palworld launched as an early game preview on Steam and Xbox (day one on Xbox Game Pass). The game quickly gained notoriety for its close comparison to Pokémon. Coming off of the weekend, the Palworld social team announced the game “has sold over 5 million copies in only 3 days!”
#Palworld has sold over 5 million copies in only 3 days!
Thank you soooo much!
In addition, thank you for all the illustrations on #PalworldArt and videos on #PalClips from all over the world!Please leave a review if you've been enjoying your time in Palworld!#Pocketpair pic.twitter.com/wyq5HlNDHZ
— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) January 22, 2024
Palworld has been caught in a viral bubble over the weekend. The popularity of the game was so strong that many struggled to log in on Steam due to server crashes. At its peak, Palworld cultivated almost 1.2 million concurrent players on Steam, according to Steamdb. This isn’t even considering the adoption rates on Xbox and Xbox Game Pass.
While the game has seen a staggering amount of popularity, it’s also garnered some critisms. Due to its similarities to Nintendo’s beloved Pokémon, some have considered it a rip-off of the series. In Palworld, you wake up on a mysterious island inhabited by ‘Pals’. You’re then tasked to travel across the wide open world map to collect ‘Pals’ in ‘Pal Spheres’ to raise them and level them up for battle. There are objectively a lot of similarities to Pokémon, including the designs of some of the Pals.
However, Palworld does incorporate elements from many other games, making it a fresh and unique experience. Players will have to craft and build their own weapons (yes, including guns) to help during battle. The game also offers the chance to build an encampment with base-building systems, much like Ark: Survival. There are also elements from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, including a glider, traversal mechanics, and more.
Despite the controversies, Palworld is getting an unexpected moment in the spotlight. Its metric of selling five million copies in three days eclipses PlayStation’s fastest-selling exclusive of all time. The Last of Us Part 2 sold four million copies in three days after launching in 2020, setting a substantial bar for other publishers.
As of right now, Palworld is exclusive to Steam and Xbox in “early access.”
