Palworld's Free Sakurajima Update Boosts Player Count by More Than 700%

Palworld's free Sakurajima update has boosted the player count by more than 700% as the game introduces new Pals, a new island, new enemies, and new items.

The latest content drop is the most significant update that the game has received since it was released in early access in January earlier this year. The Sakurajima update affected the player count on all platforms that Palworld is available on.

Palworld Players Surge Following Latest Update

Palworld's Free Sakurajima Update Boosts Player Count by More Than 700% — PocketPair's latest major patch for Palworld, the Sakurajima update, has caused a surge of players to come back to the game, with player count skyrocketing by more than 700%.
(Photo : Pocketpair / Screenshot taken from Steam)

Taking a look only at Steam, Palworld's player count has surged by more than 700% since the Sakurajima update was released. The game went from a peak concurrent count of roughly 15,000 users to more than 130,000.

While the latest update resulted in a massive boost to player count, it is highly unlikely that PocketPair's monster-taming game will reach its peak. When the Palworld hype train was still running in January, it peaked at 2.1 million concurrent players on Steam.

This number put the game near the top of the leaderboard for the most-played game ever on Valve's gaming platform. Palworld became an overnight sensation, which was mostly driven by the "Pokemon with guns" trope, according to Insider Gaming.

But since then, things have become relatively quiet for PocketPair's game but the latest Sakurajima update has somewhat sparked another fire in the game's player base. The developer also said that they have a lot planned for the game.

Later this year, PocketPair is preparing to introduce a new arena mode that will have players fight against other people. This is much like the way of a traditional Pokemon battle but would include assault rifles and grenades.

The previous high for Palworld was recorded in April with 128,000 concurrent players but even if the trend continues, it would most likely not surpass the number seen in late February, which was roughly 250,000.

The Sakurajima Update

The latest player surge comes as the Sakurajima update introduces many new Pals as well as some subspecies of currently existing creatures. There is also a new raid and hard-mode boss that players can challenge for various rewards, said Forbes.

Another thing that was well-received by players is that PocketPaid has added dedicated servers for Xbox users. While Palworld has nearly zero chance of replicating its initial release peak, getting consistent and significant content updates will be enough to keep the game healthy for a long time to come.

The Sakurajima update also raised the level cap to 55 and introduced new build materials that allow players to decorate their bases even more. When the game launched earlier this year, it saw a new sales milestone every other day.

The latest update also comes as the game is currently 25% off on Steam, which is a discount that will last until July 11, 2024, Thursday, according to PCGamesN.

There is also a new resource available in the game, Crude Oil, which is very valuable and is used to craft powerful endgame armor and a necessary new material, Plasteel. Crude Oil can be found across the new island of Sakurajima and you need to keep a lookout for black patches.