Palworld Surpasses Fortnite In Daily Xbox Players But Faces Cheating Woe

Palworld, the open-world survival game often referred to as "Pokémon with guns", has gained significant traction in the U.S.

The release briefly surpassed Epic Games' Fortnite in daily players on Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT Xbox.

"According to Circana's Player Engagement Tracker, on January 22nd Palworld surpassed Fortnite in US XBS DAU. On that day alone, Palworld players on XBS in the US played Palworld for more than 200 minutes, on average. Bonkers numbers," video game analyst Mat Piscatella shared on Twitter.

See Also: Steam Hit Paflworld Sells 5M Copies Despite Death Threats, Pokémon Plagiarism Claims

However, Piscatella warned that the data is "just for one day", and that it should be considered more a "small-sample data point for funsies stat for now."

Despite its recent debut, Palworld has already sold 7 million copies in Early Access. Notably, on Steam, it reached 1,864,421 concurrent players, making it the second-most-played game on Valve's platform, surpassing Counter-Strike.

Moreover, the game is already facing challenges with cheating just days after its release. Developer Pocketpair acknowledged the issue, confirming cheating on the official Palworld server and releasing a patch (v0.1.3.0) to address various cheats and exploits.

Nevertheless, the developer admitted the difficulty of completely preventing cheating immediately.

"We will continue to focus even more on security and aim to create an environment where everyone can play with peace of mind," Pocketpair said. "We sincerely apologize to all players who have been affected by this incident. Thank you for your continued support of Palworld."

Palworld currently lacks an anti-cheat system, with most actions being client-authoritative, allowing manipulation of in-game elements like items, speed, damage, and health. Xyrem, a programmer from the Anti-Cheat Police Department, an organization focused on cheat prevention, told IGN that Pocketpair should modify the game's workings to shift authority to the server, reducing potential exploits.

Despite being a player versus environment (PvE) game at present, Palworld plans to introduce player versus player (PvP) gameplay in the future. The Anti-Cheat Police Department emphasized the importance of addressing cheating issues promptly, especially before the introduction of PvP, to prevent a potential epidemic that could harm players' experiences.

Palworld has become one of the year's biggest games on Steam, but it has faced controversies, including accusations of being a Pokémon "rip-off."

The developer has reported receiving death threats, and Nintendo ADR NTDOY has taken action against a Pokémon mod.

Furthermore, The Pokémon Company has issued a statement expressing intent to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any intellectual property rights infringement related to Pokémon.

Read Next: Is 'Palworld' Ripping Off Pokemon? Developer Hit By Controversy And Threats

Image courtesy: Pocketpair on Steam.