The cozy MMO Palia received its largest free expansion to date called “The Royal Highlands” on May 12, 2026. The expansion is so well received by players on Steam that it is now drawing many back or new players to the game for the first time.
How many players are currently in Palia? According to SteamDB, there were 24,104 players in Palia in the last 24 hours. That’s more gamers than ever before when looking at the all-time player numbers.
This is partly because Palia itself only launched on Steam in 2024 (about a year after its actual release in 2023). Therefore, during the full release, when the game was at its height of hype, gamers on Steam could not join the MMO. As a result, there was no initial surge in players when the game was released.
On the other hand, the free DLC “The Royal Highlands” was released on May 12, 2026. It contains many new features that fundamentally enhance the MMO. In summary, it is a horse DLC.
Additionally, these numbers do not fully represent the total player counts. The title is available on all platforms, and Steam only accounts for part of this. However, the trend shows that the DLC is well received by players.
Palia introduces a fundamental feature of every MMO
What feature is now available? With horses, the first mounts are finally available in the game, allowing players to mount and move faster. This feature has been long desired by the Palia community, as can be read on Reddit.
Moreover, these are not just standard mounts, as players can breed horses on their own ranch and generate different fur colors and breeds. They can also inherit various traits.
Mounts are not only useful for travel in MMOs. They also have a collecting aspect due to different skins that drive players to catch them or, as in Palia, breed them.
Did you play Palia at launch and will you check it out again? Or are you hearing about the game for the first time, and the DLC tempts you to give it a chance? Even if you have no interest in the game at all, feel free to let us know in the comments.
Our MeinMMO editor Alex is likely to be excited about the new expansion. He values mounts highly and collects them like others collect Pokémon for the Pokédex. He also writes about this in his latest article: I am a notorious mount collector and Guild Wars 2 finally brings the perfect change for me
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