Palworld sales cross 7 million despite free Game Pass release

Even with its easy availability on Xbox Game Pass, PocketPair’s controversial Pokémon clone Palworld has sold over 7 million copies on Xbox and PC.

Hitting the massive sales milestone in just five days, Palworld has shattered its already-impressive 5 million sales record it hit just two days ago.

Only available on Xbox and PC, although Sony is investigating a PlayStation 5 port, Palworld is doing remarkably well for a title with less hype than many prior to release. Even without a Palworld PlayStation port or Palworld Nintendo Switch port, the game has sold almost as well as some recent Pokémon titles.

However, the game has been mired in controversy, with many accusing the game of plagiarism and AI generated art. The accusations have become so heated that many have decided to send death threats to Palworld developers.

Alongside claims of plagiarism, one of the best Palworld mods has already been removed from the internet. A Palworld Pokémon mod that added Ash Ketchum, real Pokémon and more to the game released earlier this week. However, the mod has since been removed by Nintendo.

In our Palworld review, we noted that the game does sometimes come too close for comfort to its inspiration. For example, eye designs and the general design language of Pokémon has clearly been reused here, but its gameplay is astoundingly difference from Game Freak’s long running franchise.

Looking through the game’s complete Paldeck list, it’s very easy to see clear influence from Pokémon on some of the game’s designs. Whether there is outright plagiarism is still yet to be proven, especially legally.

Outside of monster capturing, Palworld jobs are the game’s meat and potatoes. You can also craft gliders, explore dungeons and beat boss battles. Even in the game’s early access state, there’s a hell of a lot of fun to be had.

At the time of writing, Palworld is only available on Xbox One, Xbox Series and PC. However, you can play Palworld on mobile using services such as Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam Link and more.