This year’s biggest surprise so far in 2024, Palworld has taken the video game industry by storm. Since its Early Access launch on January 19, Palworld’s servers have struggled. Despite the issues, the game has gone on to have the highest concurrent player count of any game in the history of Steam. Today, developer Pocketpair has revealed new milestone as Palworld has sold over five million copies in three days.
According to Pocketpair, there are 86,000 copies of Palworld selling per hour. For comparison, Marvel’s Spider-Man sold 3.3 million copies, God of War sold 3.1 million, and The Last of Us Part II sold 4 million copies in the same period.
Palworld overtook Cyberpunk 2077 and became Steam’s fifth-highest peak concurrent player count with 1,291,967 online at the same time. It is currently the highest
Alongside the player count record-breaking numbers, Palworld has garnered other records. Now, Palworld is the most-played Japanese-developed game ever on Steam passing Elden Ring. Palworld is the second most-played paid game ever on Steam, far ahead of Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds.
Despite all the success, there is some controversy as the game has been accused of plagiarising Pokemon. Game Director and CEO of Pocketpair Takuro Mizobe has posted a response to the accusations.
“We are currently receiving abusive and defamatory comments against our artists, in addition to tweets that appear to be death threats,” he wrote on X, translated by VGC.
“While we have received various opinions about Palworld, it is important to note that the supervision of all materials related to Palworld is conducted by a team, including myself. I bear the responsibility for the produced materials. I would appreciate it if these comments towards artists involved in Palworld would cease.”