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[Draugoth]

via Insider Gaming

When Palworld launched on January 19, it quickly skyrocketed to be one of the most popular games ever released on Steam as the second-most-played game ever with over 2.1 million players. Just over two months later, however, that player base has fallen.

According to SteamDB, Palworld has lost 97% of its peak player count on Steam. In fact, since the beginning of March, when player counts were still hovering around 275,000 daily players, the game has consistently lost thousands of players per day down to a recent 24-hour peak of just 69,850 as of writing.

While that number is startling, it shouldn’t be shocking or unexpected right now. It also shouldn’t be taken as a sign that the game is starting to fail.

 

[64bitmodels]

called it....

 

[Sleepwalker]

Never looked appealing to me.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

 

[Ceadeus]

The developers made their money.

Most overly popular game launch nowadays seem to always end up being fire of straw.

 

[Negotiator101]

Hopefully they find them soon.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

the Xbox tax transcends storefronts.

 

[Bilu]

 

[OverHeat]

I did not did my part!!!!

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

is Palworld GaaS?

 

[violence]

Was it streamers that gave the game this boost?

 

[TheSHEEEP]

down to a recent 24-hour peak of just 69,850 as of writing.

"Just" 70k.
Some people need to touch grass and learn the meaning of numbers.

70k is drastically above almost everything else on Steam

Besides, as far as I know, all games that launch successfully into early access (at least in that genre) follow similar numbers.
And then the numbers spike again when actual content is released.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

You're never going to keep players around that long.

Consume product then move onto next hype product of the month.

 

[mdkirby]

I don’t see what the issue is, it was a massive hit. This demand/expectation that successful games need to be not just successful, but continually successful is the reason we have such shit games

 

[SlimySnake]

lol just 70k is still 30k higher than the peak of HFW. game sold like 15 million copies. its a massive success.

 

[Pedro Motta]

No wonder, the game is pure shit.

 

[John Bilbo]

When was the last content update?

 

[semiconscious]

wow! never saw this coming!...

I don’t see what the issue is, it was a massive hit. This demand/expectation that successful games need to be not just successful, but continually successful is the reason we have such shit games

thank you...

 

[Comandr]

Article and subsequently thread feels clickbaity me.

1) palworld still has 33,000 people playing right now this minute on steam alone. That’s a healthy number. The 24h peak still firmly places it in steam’s top 25 played.

2) palworld doesn’t have thaaaaaat much content. I was able to blast through it all in about a week or so. No shit dedicated players are starting to fall off.

The game will get content patches and the numbers would come back. This is just the typical ebb and flow of a live service game.

 

[Alexios]

The bait and switch worked, as it tends to do for games becoming famous for being Nintendonts (see TemTem and countless others), good on the devs

Lol at trying to spin this as normal/positive for a new online survival/crafting/building game, like it's a 6 hour single player story it's normal to bounce off...

Bu buh, Minecraft has end credits, must mean it's a game to play a week and be done with it and all its success came from that, I swear it's so true guyz

 

[Wesleyalucard]

You're never going to keep players around that long.

Consume product then move onto next hype product of the month.

Counter Strike

 

[R6Rider]

I'm shocked!

 

[DenchDeckard]

People completed it and moved on. Until a big patch comes they won't come back.

It's sold north of 15 million copies and isn't a gaas title, really.

It was an insane success.

 

[Three]

SEGAvangelist told you to wait before comparing it to the likes of fortnite and co.

You occasionally get this with a hyped game but they usually fall.
It could certainly beat fall guys but Rocket league is a tough one to beat.
It's best to wait to see retention. Considering it has GaaS like elements with some grinding it could have good retention.

 

[Generic]

Meanwhile Pokemon is still extremely popular after decades

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

is Palworld GaaS?

Is Pocket Pair working on their next game or still working on Palworld?

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Is Pocket Pair working on their next game or still working on Palworld?

 

[Stamps1646]

It's early access, 1st road map drop has yet to release.
People will return after the first major content drop on the road map, then take another break.

 

[Kikorin]

Will the Pokémon IP survive to this?

 

[Codes 208]

Was it streamers that gave the game this boost?

“Pokemon but with guns” being hyped to hell by streamers and online media

This game was never going to have the same legs as an actual pokemon game (not that thats bad mind you, it was a fun distraction overall)

 

[R6Rider]

Reminds me of Battle Bit, but that game was multiplayer.

"It's going to replace Battlefield!"

*Proceeds to drop below 2042 numbers*

 

[BennyBlanco]

It’s early access with a limited amount of content, not a GaaS. People played it then moved on to other games. And 70k is still a big number.

 

[tusharngf]

If they can do LIVE game then yes it can live longer on the charts

 

[Elbereth]

 

[Arsic]

Made bank and now you’re set.

 

[Stitch]

It's not a live service game so who gives a fuck? also still 32,368 people playing right now

Spoiler

more than horizon forbidden west

 

[mitch1971]

(Insert game here) Has Lost 97% Of Its Players On Steam Since Launch.​

Maybe the mods on GAF can do a template to make it easier for people to post the same message everytime a new game has been out a while.

 

[Kacho]

70k players is nothing to sneeze at

 

[Flabagast]

share to everybody that bough into the ridiculous hype

 

[Mortisfacio]

When was the last content update?

As far as I'm aware, there hasn't been a content update. They've retuned a lot of things and fixed a lot of bugs, but no real playable content update since launch. They have announced a "building update" but I don't follow enough to know if they have an ETA on it. Last tweet just says the "upcoming update"

 

[Shubh_C63]

What an unmitigated disaster

JUST 32,000 players online with 69K Peak
ONLY #39 most played game on Steam
Game with barely any content made by just few people

I can't even imagine how low this numbers will dip once they utilize the fame and money they have got to release new standard content.
I shudder to think it will only reach #24 most played game then with only mildly trending on twitter.

They should just sell their company and IP to Embracer right away.

 

[Robb]

Probably for the better though. Devs made bank and trying to maintain that kind of user base over time would probably have been hell for them. Win/win.

 

[Gideon]

Almost any title falls under the "lost 90+% of players in x months" beside fortnite, wow and some others.

 

[Mr Moose]

It's not a live service game so who gives a fuck? also still 32,368 people playing right now

Spoiler

more than horizon forbidden west

 

[ReyBrujo]

Dang, by the time Pokémon's lawyers finally submit a case there will be nothing left to grab. I guess Palworld's defense could be that they can't be a copy of Pokémon if they lost all their playerbase within the launch quarter.

 

[captainpat]

People act like this is a bad thing and then get angry at devs for focusing on live service games or padding their games.

 

[Solarstrike]

In this world the way it is, the name of the game is cash in and cash out.

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

 

[Deerock71]

I'm laughing at the GIF more than Palworld. Bro needs glasses.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Good, for now. Game is subpar. Now a more "finished" game like HD2? That merits more success.