Palworld dev explains why “dead game” label isn’t a concern amid low player count

A Palworld dev explained that being called a “dead game” isn’t a concern to Pocketpair, arguing it’s a good thing for everyone amid low player counts.

When Palworld hit the internet, it was an overnight sensation as its unique gameplay pair with Pokemon-esque critters captured the masses, breaking player count records and becoming a cultural phenomenon along the way.

However, half a year into release, the game has seen a massive drop off in player numbers. As of writing, Palworld has 23,800 concurrent players, according to Steamdb, a far cry from its jaw-dropping peak of 2.1 million concurrents. This has led to many now calling it a “dead game,” though this isn’t a concern for Pocketpair.

In an interview with Going Indie, Palworld Community Manager John “Bucky” Buckley explains that it shouldn’t be seen as a negative.

Bucky explained why they don’t see a problem with fans not playing Palworld, even encouraging them to play other games.

“I don’t think it services anyone to kind of push gamers to play the same game day in and day out.”

He outlined how some games are designed to be played constantly, such as League of Legends and Dota 2, but feels that there is an influx of games that aren’t designed to be played for months on end, yet devs are still pushing for players to make it their one and only game.

“I don’t think you need to be pushing yourself to play the same game all the time,” Bucky said. “It’s not healthy for us, it’s not healthy for developers, it’s not healthy for gamers, it’s not healthy for gaming media, and it’s just not healthy for our industry.”

Bucky argued that the more hours we spend on live service games, the more big developers will keep pushing “soulless” short-lived live service games to the forefront.