Palworld eclipses CS2, hits second-highest peak player count on Steam

Palworld has grabbed the honor of reaching the second-largest peak player count for a game on Steam after shattering the mark set by Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

The official Twitter/X account of Palworld shared the news today of the game beating the concurrent player record CS2 set in May 2023. The post showed a screenshot of Steam statistics tracker site SteamDB, where Palworld is listed as having a peak player count of 1,853,216. This surpassed the mark of CS2, which sat at 1,818,773.

“The number of Steam users currently playing #Palworld has exceeded 1.85 million,” the official Palworld X account said. “Thank you for playing the game even though it is a weekday! The team is working hard to ensure that you can enjoy the game even more comfortably.”

Palworld’s launch last weekend was one of the most successful and dominant game debuts in recent history. Not only did it top the Steam charts, but the game also sold over one million copies in just eight hours, as well as selling over six million copies in just four days after its release. The official X account of The Game Awards even mentioned that the feat achieved by Palworld should approximately translate to $162 million in revenue for both its Steam and Xbox sales combined.

The launch of Palworld also saw a lot of content creators streaming the game during its first day of release, beating the likes of CS2, GTA V, League of Legends, Fortnite, and more in terms of Twitch viewership on the morning of Jan. 19. Streamers such as CohhCarnage and AdmiralBahroo were among the first to play and stream the game on their channels.

All of these achievements set by Palworld took place even though the game is still in early access. The game, however, isn’t safe from backlash, especially since its gameplay and aesthetic have been greatly compared to the already established Pokémon franchise of games. The main difference, though, is the use of guns for your Pals, as well as its survival gameplay that sees players kill and even eat those monsters.

Still, it can’t be denied that Palworld has posted some impressive feats in its first full week since launch. PUBG: Battlegrounds is now the only game standing in Palworld’s way of claiming the top spot for peak concurrent players in Steam history, which the battle royale set at 3,257,248 in January 2018.