The crazy survival game Palworld has been in Early Access since yesterday and is already one of the most played games on Steam. MeinMMO reveals why this led to an update in the Epic Games backend.
Update: As soon as the article was published, Palworld has already surpassed 715,000 concurrent players on Steam. This puts it in 9th place for the highest all-time peaks in history and kicks Apex Legends out of the Top 10 (via Steamcharts).
This is how successful Palworld is: Even before the Early Access launch, it was clear that this crazy survival game could be a success, as it conquered the Twitch charts. However, such numbers cannot always be simply translated into commercial success for a game.
Sometimes potential buyers do not fully trust the hype and prefer to get a sense of the game by watching others play. Did someone say “The Day Before”? However, the situation for Palworld looks significantly more positive so far than for the failed survival hope. Here’s what Palworld has achieved in less than 24 hours:
- On January 20, 2024, at around 1 PM, Palworld reached an all-time peak of 639,048 concurrent players on Steam – and could continue to grow over the weekend.
- It is currently in 2nd place for the most played games on Steam, just behind Counter-Strike 2, and could push Apex Legends out of the Top 10 of the highest player records (via Steamcharts).
- In just 8 hours, Palworld already surpassed 1 million copies sold, and now there are already more than double that (via X). It is no wonder that Palworld is currently the top seller on Steam .
- On Twitch, Palworld has more than 239,000 concurrent viewers, outpacing games like GTA 5, Counter-Strike, and Fortnite.
However, the massive influx also presents an unexpected strain.
Palworld is so successful that Epic had to update its backend
How are the servers doing? They apparently couldn’t withstand the enormous influx. This especially led to issues with multiplayer. According to the developers on X, formerly Twitter, the connection difficulties when hosting cooperative games are due to a problem in the Epic Games backend.
Developer Pocketpair also revealed that there has already been an emergency meeting with Epic Games, which resulted in a short-term update being initiated at Epic Games. Players should therefore notice an improvement in the connection issues.
This also suggests that Pocketpair is using Epic Online Services for the Palworld servers.
If you too have been caught up in the Palworld fever, you’ll find a range of guides and tips here on MeinMMO to help you get started in the game. Palworld: The 7 best tips you should know at the start. Feel free to share your first impressions in the comments and let us know if you still experience connection issues.
