The highly anticipated launch of Palworld is taking everything by storm. Since its announcement last year during the Summer Games Fest, expectations for this promising “Pokemon with guns” have skyrocketed, and its release positions it as one of the most significant successes of all time. Pocketpair, the studio behind this project, has catered to the fantasies of a large part of the community, and this is reflected in the incredible numbers their game is achieving.
Just three days after its release, it has already sold over 5 million copies, an extraordinary feat, especially considering that the game is also available on Game Pass, which undoubtedly reduced the number of paying users. This release is not only breaking sales records, but it’s also one of the games with the most concurrent players in Steam’s history. Over the last 24 hours, it has amassed 1.5 million concurrent players. This milestone places it third on SteamDB’s all-time list, surpassing heavyweights like Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, Hogwarts Legacy, and Baldur’s Gate 3, among others.
Pokémon Fans Complain About the Similarities
It’s not all sunshine in what is already the launch of the year. Across several online platforms, Pokémon fans are complaining about the more-than-obvious similarities between several Pals and their Pokémon counterparts. Some fans are even calling for The Pokémon Company to take legal action.
While the resemblance between several creatures, and even human characters, is undeniable, coupled with their capture mechanics, it’s amusing to see how extreme some of the more passionate fans can get. The influence of Game Freak’s classic saga is undeniable, but Palworld is much more than a ripoff. It’s a complete reimagining and introduces many aspects never experienced in Nintendo’s franchise.
This goes beyond the inclusion of firearms; it also involves survival elements in an open world, the ability to build your own bases and factories, resource management, and combat mechanics that combine third-person shooting with Hack n’ Slash.
It’s clear that Pocketpair has taken concepts and even designs from Game Freak; the fact that some Pals are clearly inspired by Pokémon is undeniable. However, accusing the game of plagiarism seems excessive. Personally, I believe it’s more of an inspiration than anything else. There are certainly shared aspects, but this is a completely different formula, not just an extension of the ideas from the franchise it draws inspiration from.
A Start With Incredible Numbers and Some Issues
Palworld’s overwhelming success in just its first few hours post-launch hasn’t been without its challenges and technical problems. From players being unable to access the servers due to overwhelming demand, to the loss of saved game data, there have been hurdles.
The former is understandable and a common issue for releases with such high numbers. Regarding the latter, the development team has shared a link explaining how players can recover backups of their saved games. They’ve also informed players that they’re actively working to resolve these problems, though they ask for patience since they’ve received over 50,000 inquiries in just three days, leaving them overwhelmed for the time being.
[About inquiries]
— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) January 22, 2024
Currently, we have received over 50,000 inquiries.
We sincerely apologize for the delay in response from our support team.
The development team is aware of serious bugs that are occurring, such as being unable to enter servers, unable to play multiplayer,…
