Palworld Dev Addresses "Lazy" Discourse About Declining Player Number

Palworld launched with massive numbers on Steam last month, but there are signs that interest has been cooling down a bit. After shattering the platform's concurrent player record for paid games, and hitting a high of more than 2.1 million concurrent players, Palworld has been starting to see a drop-off. According to numbers from SteamDB, the game's high this weekend was just above 530,000 players, which has led to Palworld sliding behind games like Counter-Strike 2 and PUBG: Battlegrounds. That's led to some concerns that the game won't be able to maintain momentum, but Palworld's community manager calls that discourse "lazy."

"This emerging 'Palworld has lost X% of its player base' discourse is lazy, but it's probably also a good time to step in and reassure those of you capable of reading past a headline that it is fine to take breaks from games," the game's community manager wrote on Twitter. "You don't need to feel bad about that. Palworld, like many games before it, isn't in a position to pump out massive amounts of new content on a weekly basis. New content will come, and it's going to be awesome, but these things take a little bit of time."

Is Palworld Losing Interest?

On one hand, it's clear that Palworld interest has dropped a bit since launch, but as the game's community manager notes, the team at Pocketpair never expected to generate that level of interest in the first place; last May, they were hoping the game would hit just 50,000 players. With the game still reaching numbers more than 10 times that, Pocketpair still has a lot to celebrate. The game is also performing a lot better than high-profile releases like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which has so far hit an all-time peak of just 13,459 players. Suicide Squad clearly isn't pulling attention away from Palworld, but there are going to be other games that get Steam users to step away for a bit. Helldivers 2 hit a peak of 333,827 players this weekend, and has been performing incredibly well since launch. While it would be impossible to say how many people are playing both these games, Pocketpair expects that players will jump to something else for a while. 

"There are so many amazing games out there to play; you don't need to feel guilty about hopping from game to game," the game's community manager said.

The Future of Palworld

Over the last few years, a number of games have gotten hot, then slowed down as the developers take time to work on new content and updates. That's simply the reality of many modern games, and the streamer culture also plays a role, as the biggest names on Twitch and YouTube are always looking for something new to keep the audience interested. The reality is, Palworld is still doing far better than anyone expected, and the game's been a success on both Steam and Xbox Game Pass. And when the developers are ready to release new content, it could see some big jumps once again. 

Are you still playing Palworld on Steam? Do you think interest in the game is plunging? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!