What you need to know
- If you were under a rock at the beginning of the year, Palworld was released on Xbox Game Pass and Steam and has now surpassed 25 million players.
- The Steam version has now been updated to version 0.1.5.1, and Xbox will get the update soon.
- The updates address a series of bugs and glitches to improve the game.
Palworld launched 2024 with a bang, destroying everybody's expectations for what an 'AA' game could do. It also showed the power of Game Pass as it allowed strong word of mouth and ease of access, allowing over 7 million people to play it via Xbox's fantastic subscription service. Since that last report, PocketPair has stated that the game has hit 25 million players, 15 million on Steam, and 10 million on Xbox, which is a fantastic accomplishment.
The newest updates to the game aren't remarkable meta changes, but they are small progressive changes to the game to fix bugs and glitches and improve overall stability that shows the developers are dedicated and capable of making this game one worth coming back to over and over.
What changes were made in recent Palworld updates?
Two recent updates are worth going over, so let's look at them chronologically. The first update currently implemented on Xbox, which waits for version 0.1.5.1, is version 0.1.5.0. It's worth noting the changes and fixes added in version 0.1.5.0, though, as they are still implemented in version 0.1.5.1.
The Palworld Twitter(X) account was kind enough to tweet updates and patch notes. Here are the notes for version 0.1.5.0.
[Patch Notice] ・Steam patch v0.1.5.0 ・Xbox patch v0.1.5.0 Steam version v0.1.5.0 has been released. (Xbox version v0.1.5.0 will released as soon as it is ready) Patch Notes:=== ▼Major Fixes・Implemented backup of save data on the world selection screen・Resolved… pic.twitter.com/ZYoytWqBv5February 27, 2024
There are so many changes in this patch that it's likely not prudent to list them here. If you want to see them all, please check the tweet above. I'm going to share some of the highlights from this update.
- Implemented backup of save data on the world selection screen.
- Fixed an issue where base Pals would get stuck on top of a logging site, etc.
- Added measures to prevent the issue where base Pals would wander around and get stuck at the border of the base area.
- Fixed an issue where Pals at the base would get stuck repeatedly starting transportation tasks and the light bulbs icon would appear over and over again.
- Added measures to prevent the issue of base Pals getting stuck in the farm on a roof.
- Fixed an issue where work Pals would get stuck in the summon space of Palbox when restarting the server on a dedicated server.
- You can now adjust the in-game brightness in the settings.
- Renovated the server lobby.
- [Search by server name] will now work.
- Added the ability to view online players on a dedicated server.
- Significantly increased the number of police officers who appear when a crime is committed.
- Increased the SAN value recovery amount of high-quality hot springs.
- Improved interaction accuracy with adjacent objects.
- Added fully supported keyboard key configuration.
As we can see, one of the major focuses of the patch was fixing one of the most annoying issues that Palworld suffered from and that was Pals getting stuck around the base and not performing their tasks. There are also a bunch of other quality-of-life fixes that are a great addition.
What changed in Palworld patch v0.1.5.1?
While Patch v0.1.5.0 was released back on February 26th, the most recent patch v0.1.5.1 released on the 28th of February. It's a much smaller patch based on the patch notes and the Palworld Twitter(X) account takes care to point out that the Xbox version isn't quite ready yet.
"Steam version v0.1.5.1 has been released. (Xbox version v0.1.5.1 will released as soon as it is ready)"
You can check out the full post below from the Palworld account with the full patch notes for patch v0.1.5.1.
[Patch Notice] ・Steam patch v0.1.5.1・Xbox patch v0.1.5.1 Steam version v0.1.5.1 has been released. (Xbox version v0.1.5.1 will released as soon as it is ready) Patch Notes:===▼Major Fixes・Fixed various game crashes▼Balance Adjustment・Fixed a bug where… pic.twitter.com/9ebmsRYjo9February 29, 2024
This patch had much fewer notes than the previous one so I'll go ahead and list them all here. The main theme of the patch seems to be fixing bugs and other things that might have been overlooked in the last larger patch 2 days before it.
- Fixed various game crashes.
- Fixed a bug where breeding Pals always had fixed passives.
- Fixed an issue where the increase in condensation progress was incorrect when using Pal of rank 2 or higher as a condensation material (it will increase by the number of Pals used in previous condensation).
- Fixed an issue where the innermost door would not open after defeating the boss of a random dungeon.
- Fixed an issue where the name of a Pal would not change even after renaming them.
- Fixed an issue where it was not possible to search for spaces or Japanese/Chinese characters in the server list.
- Fixed so that if the server is no longer registered on the server list, it will be re-registered without needing to restart the server.
- Fixed an issue where the settings to enable RCON were not loaded from the configuration file.
- We are currently working on an issue where auto-save fails on the Xbox and Xbox Game Pass versions. We expect that this will be resolved in an upcoming update.
As we can see from these two updates, Pocketpair realizes they have caught lightning in a bottle and are working to update and fix the game to thank the millions of fans that purchased and played the game. A quick check of Steam charts show that Palworld is still number 6 in the world in concurrent players right around 200,000 concurrent players which is absolutely insane for a game like this.
While some would like to doom and gloom that Palworld has fallen off, there are dozens of AAA studios that would kill to have 200,000 concurrent players over a month after launch.
Will Palworld be popular again?
Again, it's important to reiterate that while the media has mostly stopped covering Palworld and it has fallen out of the gaming Zeitgeist, the game is still extremely popular and performing really well on Steam, and likely on Xbox Game Pass as well.
From the several content creators I've heard from who played Palworld, they are mostly waiting for new content updates to Palworld to return to it. A lot of people have moved on from Palworld to other survival games like the awesome Enshrouded or Nightingale. I'm pretty sure that if Pocketpair can bring new content to Palworld, in a good state a large number of the initial 25 million player base will come back.
🎉Total number of players exceeds 25 million🎉It's been a month since #Palworld was released, thank you!・Steam: 15 million players・Xbox: 10 million playersWe will continue to prioritize fixing bugs and preventing further cheating.Thank you for your continued support! pic.twitter.com/LnVSqJyZsDFebruary 22, 2024
Palworld hit 25 million players in 1 month, a feat that massive games like Spider-Man 2 and even Halo Infinite could not accomplish. Halo Infinite hit 20 million players in about 2 months post-launch.
Palworld combines different genres, tropes, and features into one cohesive whole and is fun to play. If Palworld can continue to bring new features and gameplay styles into the game, it can become more than a blip in gaming history. It could be an ongoing adventure that gamers repeatedly return to as new content is released.
I think the future of Palworld all depends on PocketPair and how they can innovate the game. The game being in Game Pass can help it significantly. If they time their content releases with lulls in Game Pass releases, they could find continuing success over the years.
