Palworld, developed by Pocketpair, continues to make waves in the gaming industry, reaching a noteworthy milestone of seven million copies sold within its first five days since launch. This surprising success follows the earlier announcement of five million copies sold in three days, solidifying Palworld's status as the unexpected hit of 2024.

Launched on January 19th, the game quickly ascended to the top of Steam's best-selling games list and secured the second position on Steam's all-time concurrent players leaderboard, trailing only behind PUBG. Palworld is also accessible on Windows PC via Game Pass and Xbox.

Epic Games vs Steam

Described as an open-world survival crafting game accommodating up to 32 players, Palworld boasts over 100 types of pals—creatures players can capture, train, battle, or put to work. Despite encountering some outages over the weekend due to high demand, Pocketpair collaborated with Epic Games to swiftly address and resolve these issues.

According to Steam sales data, approximately 36% of players hail from China, while 21% are from the United States. Surprisingly, only 2.5% come from Japan, the birthplace of Pokémon. Notably, there is a significant correlation between Palworld players and those who have previously engaged with Monster Hunter: World, Elden Ring, and Risk of Rain 2, according to Simon Carless of GameDiscoverCo.

Pokémon IP

Pocketpair has outlined an early-access roadmap for Palworld, featuring updates such as player-versus-player, raid bosses, Pal Arena (PvP for Pals), Xbox-Steam crossplay, and various enhancements to the game's features. The company acknowledges and is actively working on addressing bugs and issues reported by the player community.

Questions regarding potential copyright infringement have arisen due to the game's resemblance to Pokémon. Modders have already created a mod featuring Pokémon characters within Palworld. Don McGowan, former general counsel at The Pokémon Company, expressed uncertainty about potential legal action, while The Pokémon Company itself stated it has not issued a license for Palworld's use of Pokémon intellectual property and is investigating the matter.

Unique Gameplay

Takuo Mizobe, CEO of Pocketpair, recently shared his insights in an interview highlighting the game's development journey. Having worked at Nintendo and later founding Pocketpair in 2015, Mizobe stressed the team's dedication to creating unique gaming experiences. Palworld is the result of years of effort and innovation, combining elements of survival crafting, monster breeding, and open-world gameplay.

In conclusion, Palworld's rapid success and unique gameplay have sparked interest in the gaming community. As the game industry evolves, especially in the realm of web3 gaming, Palworld's innovative approach and dedicated player base showcase the potential for new and engaging experiences in the ever-expanding landscape of gaming.