Palworld Has Overtaken Counter-Strike

gamerant.com:

Pocket Pair's megahit survival title Palworld has overtaken Counter-Strike 2 as the game on Steam with the second-most concurrent players of all time. Palworld quickly became one of the most successful Steam games ever upon its release, and the hype isn't going anywhere as it continues to smash record upon record.

The success of Palworld is a massive surprise, to say the least. It was released into Early Access without much hype, yet was an immediate overnight success with 6 million sales in total as of the developer's latest update. Palworld was hugely helped during its release by many streamers hopping onto the bandwagon to give it a try, with the "Pokemon with guns" premise proving to be a huge allure for many, creating the perfect storm in which Palworld's success was built.

The player count for Palworld has surpassed 1.84 million on Steam, according to SteamCharts, making it the game with the second-highest ever peak player count on the platform. This puts it just above Valve's tactical shooter, Counter-Strike 2, which set a peak of 1.8 million back in 2023. It's some feat, considering the longevity of the Counter-Strike franchise, as well as the fact that Valve's title is free-to-play. Despite the impressive achievement, Palworld remains some way off the top spot. This is held by PUBG: Battlegrounds, which achieved a colossal 3.23 million players during the battle royale boom back in 2018. If growth like this continues, no record is safe.

Despite the surprise success of Palworld, it hasn't been all plain sailing so far. Palworld devs have been receiving death threats in the wake of the game's release, with many accusations from the gaming community about the similarities between the title and the Pokemon games. However, it's clear this hasn't deterred players from enjoying the game, with the player count still steadily rising for the Early Access title.

1. PUBG: Battlegrounds — 3,257,248

2. Palworld — 1,864,421

3. Counter-Strike 2 — 1,818,773

4. Lost Ark — 1,325,305

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