Palworld 1.0 just reminded everyone why it owned Steam in the first place, slamming 855,525 concurrent players and shoving Dota 2 down the charts on launch weekend.

Pocketpair dropped the full release July 10 with a massive World Tree region, Sunreach sky islands, 72 new Pals pushing the total past 250, and a fat 27-page patch note overhaul—no price increase either, because apparently they still like their fans. Bucky Buckley couldn't stop posting the numbers, calling it "staggering" while the community flooded back in droves.

Sure, some are already griping about base building and Pal pathfinding still feeling early-access janky, but the raw player surge says the creature-collecting-with-guns fantasy hits different when it's finally "done." The all-time peak still sits at 2.1 million, so this comeback is just getting started.

Dethroning Valve's evergreen MOBA with a paid survival game? That's the kind of dominance that makes other devs sweat.