Palworld didn't have a lot of buzz surrounding it prior to its release. While it did catch the attention of the Pokemon community due to its satirical take on the famous Game Freak franchise, many were highly skeptical of the title. However, when Palworld made its debut on PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Xbox Game Pass in January 2024, it became a runaway success. In just one month, the Pokemon-like survival game sold over 15 million copies on Steam and had more than 10 million players on Xbox consoles. The title not only became one of the most concurrently played games of all time on Valve's PC storefront, it also ended up having the most successful Game Pass launch of any third-party game ever.
After its explosive launch on Xbox and PC, Palworld is continuing its streak of success by expanding its reach to more players. Just recently, the hit monster-taming survival game was released on PlayStation 5. That's not all, though, as the title is also making its way to other devices. On October 2, the Korean publisher Krafton announced that it would be collaborating with Pocketpair, the creators of Palworld, to bring its popular video game to mobile phones. This upcoming port of the title, which is being developed by the studio behind PUBG, will "reinterpret and implement" the fun aspects of its console and PC versions to accommodate the mobile gaming environment, according to Krafton. With Palworld coming to even more platforms, it's about time that Pocketpair implements a long-requested feature that's been absent from the game since launch: full crossplay support.
Palworld's Arrival on PlayStation 5 Opens Up an Obvious Opportunity to Reach Even More Players
With the breakout hit Palworld coming to PlayStation, there's a fairly obvious route for it to take to further expand its audience.
Palworld Needs Full Crossplay Support More than Ever Before
Crossplay Support in Palworld is Currently Very Limited
Palworld does technically support crossplay, but its functionality is incredibly limited. Xbox and PC players can play the game with each other, but only under certain conditions. If a PC gamer wants to enjoy Palworld with the friends they have on Xbox consoles, they need to download the Microsoft Store version of the game. Sadly, those who own the title on Steam cannot play with Xbox or Microsoft Store users. Considering that the overwhelming majority of PC gamers prefer to use Valve's storefront over Microsoft's, the lack of crossplay in the Steam version of Palworld is very unfortunate, and it hinders the game's potential on the multiplayer front.
The same can be said for Palworld's PlayStation 5 port. Although it was released more than eight months after the initial launch of the game, this version of Pocketpair's wildly successful title still lacks crossplay functionality. At this time, Palworld on PS5 also doesn't have multiplayer server support, like it does on Steam. The Xbox and Microsoft Store versions lacked dedicated servers at launch as well, but they were included in a post-launch patch, so it's safe to assume PlayStation players will get the feature eventually. Hopefully, the same will be the case for crossplay, as well.
Palworld's Upcoming Mobile Ports Should Launch With Crossplay Functionality
In order to avoid the missteps that Palworld's PlayStation 5 version made, it'd be ideal for the game's upcoming phone ports to receive crossplay support on day one. This is arguably of the utmost importance. After all, now that Palworld is coming to mobile devices, it will reach an audience far larger than ever before. If the multiplayer implementation for the game is still disjointed by the time these Krafton-developed ports come out, then it could impact the growth of its playerbase.
Of course, there is the possibility that the version of Palworld designed for mobile phones will be entirely different from the console and PC ports of the monster-taming game. In that case, crossplay across all platforms may not be as feasible. Even still, Pocketpair should at least try to enable functionality for the feature between operating systems; iOS players should be able to play Palworld with Android players and vice versa.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 71 /100 Critics Rec: 58%
- Released
- January 19, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Violence
- Developer(s)
- Pocket Pair, Inc.
- Publisher(s)
- Pocket Pair, Inc.
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- Xbox Series X|S, pc
WHERE TO PLAY
In this game, you can peacefully live alongside mysterious creatures known as Pals or risk your life to drive off a ruthless poaching syndicate. Pals can be used to fight and breed, or they can be made to work on farms or factories. You can even sell them or eat them.
Survival: In a harsh environment where food is scarce and vicious poachers roam, danger waits around every corner. To survive, you must tread carefully and make difficult choices...even if that means eating your own Pals when the time comes.
Mounts & Exploration: Pals can be mounted to traverse the land, sea and sky—allowing you to traverse all kinds of environment as you explore the world.
Collect all kinds of exciting Pals to fight, farm, build, and work for you in this completely new multiplayer, open world survival and crafting game!
- Cross Save
- yes
- Number of Players
- 1-4 (Co-Op); 32 Players Server Limit
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Shooter, Survival
- How Long To Beat
- 36 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 6 GB (February 2024)
- OpenCritic Rating
- Fair
