Pocketpair Claims That ‘Palworld’ Has ‘Sold Over 6 Million Copies In Only 4 Days’ Amidst Plagiarism Claims & Massive Bug Reports
by Michael Betar IV
'Palworld' (Image: Pocketpair Inc)
Following fanfare generated before Palworld’s release last weekend, the game’s developer, Pocketpair, posted an X post on January 22 that the game had “sold over 6 million copies in only 4 days,” far exceeding the company’s expectations on release.
Known online as “Pokémon with guns,” the creature collecting game has garnered notoriety online for its mature content involving shooting guns and an option to enslave the game’s “Pals” to mass produce weapons. However, according to most players, the most interesting part of the game so far is the less talked about mechanics of exploring and crafting in the game’s world.
This is partially due to the game not allowing players to craft guns until they reach “Level 25” for simple handguns and “Level 45” for automatic weapons, a process that allegedly takes a few days to reach the required levels. Despite the time commitment, many players have praised the game’s easy-to-learn mechanics and have had fun interacting with their “Pals.”
#Palworld has sold over 6 million copies in only 4 days!
Our all-time peak player count has also surpassed 1.7 million.Thank you very much!!
Some users are experiencing problems and bugs, which we are addressing with the highest priority.
Thanks for your support! pic.twitter.com/j1CGWW52Rr
— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) January 23, 2024
Despite this successful launch, there have been reports of bugs that have caused players to be unable to join multiplayer servers after launch and a particularly nasty glitch that completely resets a player’s save data. Upon receiving an alleged “50,000 inquiries” regarding these bugs, Palworld’s community manager, Bucky, released a Google Document on the game’s official Discord server that covers a way for players to recover their lost data.
Outside of bug issues, there have been debates online regarding Palworld’s status as either a parody or copy of Nintendo’s Pokémon franchise, with some netizens calling out the similar designs that the Pals have to various Pokémon. There have also been accusations that the game had used AI generation for some of the Pal designs based on Pocketpair’s previous ventures in AI, including their 2022 party game AI: Art Impostor utilizing the technology as well as the company’s CEO, Takuro Mizobe, posting tweets as early as 2021 regarding his interest in using AI to create art.
Translated from a post Mizobe had made on X on Monday, the CEO has stated disappointment regarding the internet’s “slanderous comments” towards his game’s artists that include tweets that “appear to be death threats” in response to these claims.
As of writing, Palworld continues to be both the “top selling” and “most played” on Steam with the game continuing to rise in popularity as more players and streamers talk about the game across social media.
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