In a surprising turn of events, indie-developed game Palworld has become one of the biggest gaming sensations of 2024. Developer Pocketpair recently announced that the game's sales and Xbox downloads have surpassed a staggering 19 million, with a significant 12 million sales on Steam and a strong player base of 7 million on Xbox.

Palworld's unexpected triumph continues to surpass expectations, as it has now achieved the title of the biggest third-party launch in the history of Microsoft's Game Pass service. Additionally, it has become the most-played third-party game on the Xbox Cloud Gaming service, solidifying its position as a major player in the gaming industry.

The game's journey towards success has been nothing short of remarkable. Since its release as a Steam Early Access title, Palworld sold an impressive 5 million copies in its opening weekend alone. A week ago, it had already reached 8 million Steam copies sold, highlighting its growing popularity among gamers.

While there are signs that the game's sales may be slowing down, as it currently holds the second spot in Steam's top-selling games after reigning at number one for over a week, Palworld's active player count on Steam remains significantly higher than that of Counter-Strike 2, the next most-played game on the platform.

Often described as "Pokémon with guns," Palworld has sparked debates on the internet regarding its similarities to the Pokémon series. Some allegations have surfaced, suggesting that the game may have used AI-generated monster designs and modified character models from the Pokémon franchise. These claims have led to The Pokémon Company issuing a statement indicating an investigation into a game matching Palworld's description. However, no legal action has been taken against Palworld or Pocketpair at this time.

Nevertheless, Palworld certainly embraces its influences. Beyond the creatures that resemble Pokémon, the game draws inspiration from titles like ARK: Survival Evolved for its progression and crafting mechanics. Furthermore, its monster-catching mechanics bear a striking resemblance to Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

When considering the Xbox Game Pass numbers as "sales," Palworld is poised to surpass the sales of the main-series Pokémon titles on the Nintendo Switch, namely Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet. These Nintendo titles have sold 26.02 and 23.23 million copies respectively, placing them as the sixth and seventh bestselling games in the Switch library.

Although Nintendo does not provide individual sales figures for each version of a Pokémon game, it becomes evident through proxies like Amazon reviews that Violet currently holds more reviews than Scarlet, while Sword has more reviews than Shield.

With Palworld's phenomenal success, it serves as a powerful reminder to the Pokémon franchise and its developer, Game Freak, that innovative and daring endeavors can capture the hearts of millions of players. As the game's popularity surges, the gaming landscape is reshaped, bringing exciting prospects for both players and developers alike.