Although Palworld — the creature-collecting survival hybrid — has drawn its share of controversy from other developers and some players, Pocketpair’s global community manager says the criticism hasn’t dented the game’s success.
John “Bucky” Buckley made the point in a recent post, replying to a fan who described much of the backlash as performative. “My life is Palworld 24/7, and I promise you, you only ever see people ranting about it on Twitter and Bluesky,” he wrote. “It’s an easy 500k views, which is why it’ll always be topical to whinge about. It is what it is.”
My life is Palworld 24/7 and I promise you, you only ever see people ranting about it on Twitter and Bluesky. It’s an easy 500k views which is why it’ll always be topical to whinge about. It is what it is 🤷Doesn’t actually have any impact on the game or community. https://t.co/pu6QALqnSROctober 20, 2025
So how much influence does that uproar have on Palworld or its growing community? According to Buckley, very little. “Doesn’t actually have any impact on the game or community,” he added, then shared a Steam screenshot highlighting the title’s standing on Valve’s platform — an “Overwhelmingly Positive” overall rating and “Very Positive” recent reviews, each supported by thousands of user responses.
The game sits at roughly a 95% overall score on Steam (about 94% when looking only at recent reviews) and continues to attract players. Per SteamDB, Palworld is currently listed at #64 among most-played games with a 24-hour peak of 45,189 players, and an all-time peak of 2,101,867. With a 1.0 release planned for next year, those figures may climb even higher.
We’re doing just fine 😇 pic.twitter.com/hbGQZ39uVROctober 20, 2025
It’s impossible to predict Palworld’s long-term trajectory, but negative publicity can sometimes raise awareness. About a year ago, Nintendo-owned The Pokemon Company filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair alleging patent infringement, which drew extra attention to the game — and despite that controversy many players still seem to enjoy its survival-focused gameplay.
“’Nintendo is so wrong, it hurts’ — a U.S. IP specialist called Nintendo’s argument that mods don’t invalidate its Pokémon patents ‘a loser argument’ and ‘a Hail Mary’ in the ongoing legal battle with Palworld.”
