We already knew that Palworld was doing very well after launching V1.0 thanks to the surging player count on Steam, but new analysis shows the game is doing even better than expected. At this point, Palworld has sold an estimated 30 million copies. 

This number has not been confirmed by PocketPair, the studio behind Palworld. However, according to Alinea Analytics, Palworld has sold over 30 million copies since its Early Access launch. The platform split here is claimed to be 65% on Steam, 31% on Xbox (including Game Pass numbers) and 4% on PS5.

Based on these sales figures, Palworld is estimated to have generated over $700 million in revenue since its early access launch in 2024, all the way up to this month's V1.0 launch.

For a while there, it looked like PocketPair might be in some trouble as Nintendo targeted the studio with lawsuits in Japan and the US, claiming patent infringement for certain mechanics. Since then though, things have not gone Nintendo's way, with patent offices in both countries calling into question the validity of the patents.

Once the legal dispute is fully over with, it will be interesting to see if Nintendo allows Palworld on the Switch platform, where the game could reach millions of new players who don't own another console or gaming PC.

KitGuru Says: Palworld has been a huge success so far. It will be interesting to see if PocketPair releases official sales milestone figures at some point. 

Japanese developer PocketPair has just released version 1.0 of Palworld, the game that became an overnight sensation when it launched in early access in January 2024, breaking sales records left and right for a while. Judging by Steam data, it seems like the fever is back. While the game's full version did not go anywhere near the all-time peak of 2.1 million concurrent users registered at the early access launch (a figure that's still the third highest ever recorded on Valve's platform), Palworld nonetheless lured a lot of people back, with the weekend's peak reaching 855K concurrent users. Version 1.0 […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/palworld-1-0-855k-concurrent-players-world-tree/

Palworld took the ‘world’ by storm when it first launched into Early Access back in 2024. While much of the initial discourse surrounded the fact that the game seemed to take heavy inspiration from the likes of Pokemon, the game itself is a different beast entirely, offering an interesting blend of open-world survival-crafting alongside monster collecting. 2 and a half years on from launch, Palworld is finally set to hit version 1.0, with the team revealing that the game has amassed over 40 million players during this time.

Releasing a video to celebrate the milestone, studio PocketPair officially revealed that since the game’s Early Access launch in January 2024, Palworld has amassed over 40 million players – just in time for its 1.0 release on the 10th of July (tomorrow).

Of course, 40 million players does not equate to 40 million copies sold, with Palworld being a day-one addition to Xbox Game Pass. Even so, the team reported shortly after launch that it had sold over 6 million copies in 4 days – meaning full sales numbers are likely far greater by now.

Regardless of sales however, this marks a major moment for Palworld, with the game finally set to leave Early Access. While we have yet to get full patch notes for the upcoming update, it looks to be rather meaty, with the team previously teasing over 27 pages worth of fixes and additions.

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KitGuru says: Are you one of the 40 million players? Have you been keeping up with Palworld? Will you jump back in for its full launch? Let us know down below.

Palworld has had an interesting existence ever since the survival crafter released into Early Access back in 2024. Pokemon comparisons aside, the game has garnered a ton of success thanks in part to the devs at Pockpair’s continued support with new and welcome additions. As they announced previously, Palworld is finally set to hit version 1.0 soon. Offering a tease of what to expect, the devs revealed that the update is coming with 27 pages worth of patch notes.

Taking to Twitter to tease the upcoming update, Bucky-cm – the head of publishing and communications at Pocketpair – revealed just how big patch 1.0 will be for the game, writing:

“Losing my mind trying to make nice patch notes for Palworld 1.0…who'd have thought that, *checks notes*, 27 pdf pages of changes and additions would be hard to make neat.”

Of course, while a solid portion of these pages are likely to consist of minor changes and bug fixes, this still represents a massive update for Palworld – especially with most major updates for games running a maximum of a couple pages in length.

We will have to wait for the patch notes to be released in order to gain a full understanding of everything being added. That said, some of 1.0’s features have already been announced, including new Pals to collect; an expansion to the World Tree; a new region; additional weapons and more.

Palworld was a massive success pretty much from the get-go. Even so, update 1.0 will mark a major milestone for this viral hit. It will be interesting to learn what these 27 pages worth of patch notes wind up consisting of when Palworld officially leaves Early Access on the 10th of July.

KitGuru says: What do you think of Palworld in its current state? Have you been waiting for update 1.0? Let us know down below.

Palworld drew a ton of attention upon its initial announcement and release due to plenty of design similarities between the survival-crafter and Nintendo’s Pokemon series. While some may feel as though the title is derivative in this regard, at the very least it appears the game was made using human hands, with studio Pocketpair making their stance on the rise of GenAI quite clear.

In an interview with GamesRadar+, Pocketpair publishing and communications head ‘John Buckley’ spoke on the rising use of Generative AI in video game development. Stating: “Gamers don't want it, and if the gamers don't want it, I guess that's it, right? Not much of a conversation to be had.”

While a self-explanatory statement, the conversion did continue, with Buckley adding: “We have a lot of artists in-house. They like doing stuff themselves. There's no reason to get rid of them for the sake of an AI doing it. Just seems pointless.”

The full interview includes takes on GenAI for coding purposes, the difference in its usage across regions/cultures and where AI could go in the future.

It is worth noting that PocketPair’s CEO has spoken publicly on multiple occasions praising various aspects of AI in the past. Of course, between when these statements were made (Late 2022 – Early 2023) and now, both GenAI and many people’s opinions on it have shifted quite a bit.

Either way, it is always welcome seeing studios making their position on the matter clear – for transparency’s sake if nothing else.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of Buckley’s statement? What’s your thoughts on GenAI in game dev? Let us know down below.

When Palworld was first revealed back in 2024, though no one could have predicted how much of a hit game the would become, everyone predicted that Nintendo would try to do something to stop that from happening. It wasn't long until an investigation, followed by an official lawsuit from Nintendo against Palworld developer Pocketpair, was announced. While Nintendo was the Goliath to Pocketpair's David in this legal bout, it looks like Pocketpair is set to come out on top, with Nintendo seemingly only capable of getting a measly $30K out of Pocketpair, and no hope of actually getting Palworld off […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/nintendo-losing-palworld-lawsuit/

The legal battle between Nintendo and Palworld creator PocketPair just become even more interesting. Last year, Nintendo was able to get approval for patents around summoning and battling characters that were immediately controversial, so much so that some lawyers said the approvals "should not have happened, full stop." Two months later, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) moved to re-examine those patents, and now, those patents have officially been revoked. This comes from the latest report from Games Fray, which has consistently reported on the evolving case between Nintendo and PocketPair. If you need a recap on what's […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/us-patent-office-revokes-controversial-nintendo-patents-summoning-battling-characters/

When Palworld was first announced back in 2021, the internet immediately clocked it as 'Pokémon with guns,' and it was the least surprising thing for Nintendo to initiate a lawsuit against the game's developer, PocketPair, even if it meant trying some "Hail Mary" tactics by going after patents for game mechanics, rather than attempting to catch PocketPair on copyright infringement with the design of the Pals coming very close to the design of popular Pokémon. But even amidst the lawsuit, Palworld has been a smash success - it may never arrive on a Nintendo console, but it doesn't have to […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/pokemon-palworld-rip-off-pickmon-announced/