Palworld's concurrent player count has surpassed Dota 2, making it the second most played game on Steam.
Palworld is celebrating another massive success. Just days after officially leaving Early Access, Pocketpair's open-world survival game surpassed 850,000 concurrent players on Steam, prompting the developer to thank fans as Pal Tamers once again packed the Palpagos Islands.
"We can't believe it! Following the official release, Palpagos is once again bustling with Pal Tamers! A huge, heartfelt thank you to everyone playing Palworld. We hope you're enjoying Palworld 1.0!" Pocketpair wrote on X as the game crossed the 850,000 mark.
The celebrations did not stop there. Shortly after the post, Palworld climbed even higher to a new concurrent player peak of 855,525 on Steam according to SteamDB. As of writing, more than 533,000 players are still exploring Palpagos, making it the second most-played game on Steam at the moment, behind only Counter-Strike 2.
Palworld overtakes Dota 2 in player count after 1.0 launch
Palworld's 855,525-player peak is the game's highest concurrent player count since its record-breaking Early Access debut in January 2024, when it surpassed 2.1 million concurrent players on Steam.
While the full release has not eclipsed that historic launch, it has comfortably become Palworld's biggest player surge in more than two years.
The surge in player count has also pushed it ahead of Valve's Dota 2, one of Steam's longest-running and most consistently popular games, in terms of concurrent player count, with Palword becoming the second most played game next to Counter-Strike 2 . Unlike both Dota 2 and Counter-Strike 2, which are free-to-play, Palworld has achieved the milestone as a paid title.
What's new in Palworld 1.0?
It's not difficult to see why players have returned. Palworld 1.0 is one of the game's biggest updates yet, officially taking the survival game out of Early Access with a wealth of new content and systems.
The update introduces the floating island of Sunreach, the long-awaited World Tree, 72 new Pals, a raised level cap of 80, the new Awakening and Mutation systems, expanded story content and side missions, reworked Wildlife Sanctuaries, and a long list of gameplay and quality-of-life improvements across exploration, combat, building, and base management.
After more than two years in Early Access, Palworld's full release has already proven there's still plenty of appetite for Pocketpair's survival game, with players returning to Palpagos in huge numbers.
For the full list of what's new in Palworld 1.0, click here.
