'Not bad for a dead game': Palworld managed to get four nominations in Steam's Best of 2025 Awards, including 2nd place for most played game

Palworld - a pink cat pal Cattiva holds its arms out harvesting a farm — (Image credit: Pocketpair)

The end of the year doesn't just bring some much-needed time off, awkward family gatherings, and a wave of New Year's resolutions that'll only be kept for a day or so. It is also the time for celebrating some of the best games of the last year, namely through the fan-voted Steam Awards.

While Hollow Knight: Silksong managed to take the win for best game this year, there was plenty of love to go around, such as Palworld managed to get four nominations, taking home four medals: Silver for Most Played and Most Played (Steam Deck) and Bronze for Top Seller and Controller game; a pretty impressive feat for a two-year-old game that's still in early access.

Palworld - two teams of Pals face off in a Colosseum-looking arena — (Image credit: Pocketpair)

"Thank you so much, everyone," Palworld's official X account says. "We are working hard on the official release of Palworld, Palworld 1.0, this year!" The post ends with an enticing "news soon", so fans of the game can likely expect something big in the coming weeks.

Palworld's full release has been planned to come out in 2026 for some time now. Ahead of the holiday period, Pocketpair even announced it was taking a small step back from community involvement just so it could fully focus on ironing out Palworld's bugs ahead of the launch.

Alongside the bug cleanup, Pocketpair is also preparing to add a ton of new content not dissimilar to the seasonal updates that have been released so far, like the 2024 pretty huge winter update, which added a whole new island, new resources and mechanics.

NPCs and a chicken-like Pal in Palworld, they're sitting outside of an old crumbling building and waiting for food to cook. — (Image credit: Pocketpair)

All of the plans and celebrations are sullied slightly, though, as Palworld is still in an ongoing copyright lawsuit with Nintendo, as one of the most venerable videogame companies seeks to strip Palworld of its mechanics that it views as imitating Pokémon's.

Pocketpair even had to patch out a single mechanic last year, releasing a patch with just one change: "The mechanics for gliding with a Pal have been changed. Until now, you could use certain Pals as a glider; however, from this patch, you will only be able to glide by using a glider. Glider Pals will now provide a new passive partner skill effect while gliding, but the player must have a glider equipped to actually glide."

It's certainly a tough time for Palworld, but thankfully, it doesn't seem to be getting to the devs too much, as many are still focusing on the positives: "Two years later and we're still humbled by our community's endless support and kindness," Palworld's communications director, Bucky, says. "Thank you so, so, so much, Palworld games. Not bad for a dead game!!"

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.

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