Palworld’s huge free update brings over 100,000 players flooding back

Palworld was so much bigger than I remember. The survival game sold eight million copies in six days, peaked at well over two million concurrent Steam players, and took over three months to level out into any semblance of a dedicated playerbase. Even then, player counts have comfortably sat in the tens of thousands. This is why no one should be surprised that the new Sakurajima update has shot player counts into the sky, with the numbers still climbing.

Over the last few months, Palworld has been sitting at anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 active players on Steam. Those are healthy numbers any survival game would strive for, even if they are a far cry from the two million concurrent players Palworld had on Steam alone at launch.

Part of this success is the Palworld Sakurajima update. With plenty of new pals, weapons, another raid, and an entire island to explore, the free update acts more like a full expansion, and that’s been more than enticing enough for people to return.

The level cap has been raised to 55, there are new build materials to spruce up your home base, and you can even change pal skins too. Pocketpair is leveraging the colossal install base with the free update, giving everyone ample reason to return to catching pals with friends.

After resting at around 14,500 players on Thursday June 27, Palworld is soaring to 131,454 as of writing. That’s a phenomenal increase of over 115,000 players or just over 800% in the course of two days. As I write this Palword’s still on an upward trajectory, too, so I’d expect that peak to climb even higher.

Palworld’s sudden climb back up the Steam charts comes down to three factors: a colossal install base, the update being free, and the new Steam sale. Palworld sold 15 million copies in a month on Steam alone, asks for nothing but your time with the new update, and is cheaper than ever in the Steam Summer sale. That’s a cocktail for success if I’ve ever seen one.

It’s easy to forget just how big Palworld was at the start of 2024. After it was released we saw a new sales milestone hit every other day. Going back over the celebration posts, one to eight million sales flew past in less than a week. Palworld was not a slow burn – it was a monumental success story that took around three months to fizzle out.

Palworld is 25% off on Steam until Thursday July 11, so expect to pay $22.49 / £18.74 until then right here.

If you’re diving back into the survival catch ‘em all we’ve got a complete list of all Palworld Pals, alongside some of the best Palworld mods to enhance your returning experience.

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