Palworld has surged back into the spotlight following its 1.0 update, with concurrent Steam player numbers approaching a million for the first time in over two years. The creature-collecting survival game, developed by Pocketpair, had settled into a steady early access existence after its explosive 2024 debut, but the full release has reignited widespread interest and pushed it back among Steam's most-played titles.

Before the update, Palworld typically drew around 50,000 concurrent players at peak times, with occasional spikes such as 104,000 in July last year. Since the 1.0 launch, that figure jumped to 500,000 and has since climbed to 961,000, making it Steam's second most-played game behind only Counter-Strike 2, and its highest player count since February 2024. The update itself added over 70 new Pals, a higher level cap, new regions and a more developed endgame, and the game is expected to surpass a million concurrents imminently.