Palworld, the controversial satirical “Pokémon-like game with firearms,” has already sold a whopping 19 million copies since its release in Early Access on January 19. Developer Pocketpair said it sold 12 million copies on Steam and a whopping 7 million on Xbox, even surpassing one million copies in the first eight hours of launch. Microsoft says this out-of-the-box title represents the biggest third-party launch ever to happen on Game Pass.
Here are the words of Takuro Mizobe, CEO of Pocketpair, to Xbox Wire.
“The response from fans has been outstanding, and it’s incredible to see millions of players around the world enjoying Palworld. This is just the beginning for us and Palworld, and the feedback we’re gathering during the Game Preview will allow us to continue to improve the experience for Pal Tamers across all platforms.”
In addition to being the biggest third-party launch on Game Pass ever, Palworld also got the biggest third-party day-one launch on Xbox Cloud Gaming (included with Game Pass Ultimate). The highest peak of daily active players on Xbox was nearly 3 million!
For the few who have never heard of it, Palworld uses characters and settings similar to those of Pokémon, so much so that it has attracted the attention of Nintendo’s lawyers, who are investigating to examine the hypothesis of intellectual property infringement. The game features battles with monsters similar to those in the series (but a little more violent), including the ability to capture them in an orb after winning.
Apparently there are currently 100 monsters to tame and fight, hundreds of items to find or craft, and over 70 types of buildings to erect, all within a world to explore. The game also features dungeons and raid battles to add even more depth to the experience.
Microsoft pointed out that the developer is still working the title in Early Access, and Pocketpair is listening to player feedback. The arrival of cross-play, one of the most requested features, has already been announced.
Although first impressions of the game are mixed, Microsoft seems to want to support its development. The company says it has enabled dedicated servers and offered resources to help optimize GPU and memory workload. As a reminder, Palworld is available in Early Access for €29.99 (and included in the Game Pass) on Xbox and PC (including Steam).
