Palworld has sold 15 million copies on Steam in just over a month

Palworld is an action-adventure survival game that broke the player count record on Steam upon its launch and has now sold 15 million copies on the Valve platform. Developer Pocketpair announced Thursday that the game has surpassed 25 million total players, including 15 million on Steam and 10 million on Xbox. Since its release last month, Palworld has become a phenomenon, becoming one of the most played games in Steam history, despite its reputation for its Pokémon-style in-game creatures that players can capture, train, and utilize in battle. ) was accused of plagiarism.

Japanese studio Pocketpair, the makers of Palworld, confirmed in a post on X on Thursday that the game has surpassed 25 million total players and has sold 15 million copies on Steam. The survival game also has 10 million players on Xbox, though a large portion of those are likely players who access the game through Xbox Game Pass.

Last month, Microsoft comfirmed Palworld is the largest third-party Game Pass ever launched and the most played game on its platform. Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe called the response from players “huge.” “This is just the beginning for us and Palworld, and the feedback we gather in the game preview will allow us to continue to improve the Pal Tamers experience across all platforms,” ​​he added.

Currently, Palworld is the fifth most popular game on Steam, with 206,401 concurrent players at the time of writing, according to SteamDB chart. The number of players on the platform has reached an all-time high, second only to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.

While Palworld’s player base continues to grow, the game has been controversial for the design of its in-game creatures, known as “Pals.” Some players, developers, and commentators have accused the game of copying Pokémon’s creature designs.

The Pokémon Company issued a statement last month addressing the plagiarism accusations and confirming its intention to investigate any alleged copyright infringement. “We have received a number of inquiries about a game released by another company in January 2024. We have not granted any license to use Pokémon intellectual property or assets in the game,” the company said in a statement.

Palworld launches into early access on January 19th and is available on PC (via Steam), Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X, and is also included in Xbox Game Pass. The game features Pokémon-style animals that can be captured and tamed for combat, traversal, and base building in the game’s open world.