“Pokemon with guns” is a hit: Palworld Twitch viewership soars amid early access hype

Palworld is nearing its early access launch and has already been met with some remarkable viewership numbers on Twitch.

Palworld features a world filled with a wide range of creatures that players can mount, breed, and even explore dangerous dungeons with. 

These creatures called Pals may range in size, shape, and ability, but they all have one thing in common. Tame them, and they’re yours.

All the farming, taming, and collecting Pals aside, the game does have an arguably dark side to it. It’s apparently possible to eat and even assign these little creatures to work in labor camps of sorts.

Even the Steam description says, “They’ll keep working as long as they’re fed—until they’re dead, that is.”

Now, as we get closer to the release date of Palworld’s early access, streamers have been showcasing the game on Twitch, adding to the hype. As far as viewership goes, the game has been seeing some surprising numbers, even competing with other popular games on the platform.

Palworld’s early access on Steam isn’t available yet, but the game is already hitting over a hundred thousand peak viewers with 723k total hours of watch time in its first day alone, according to Twitch stats site Sullygnome.

Based on the peak viewers, it’s currently at the 17th spot on all of Twitch, just above juggernauts like NBA 2K24, Lethal Company, and Among Us.

At the time of writing, Pocketpair’s latest open-world survival is also currently sitting in the fifth spot of the most trending games on Twitch. That’s even higher than Dota 2, Fortnite, and new release Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

It’s undeniably impressive to see a game that’s recently showcased to be competing with other multiplayer titles that generally dominate the platform. 

Overall, it’s clear that many players seem to be interested in joining the world of “Pokemon with guns.” In addition, while the game will be launched during its early access state, devs have confirmed that the game will continue to be updated and assured fans that it’s not a scam.