Palworld's Terraria update lands it back in Steam's Top 10 with over 120,000 players coming back, but its community manager is just waiting for people to brand it a 'dead game' again
Quit telling people I'm dead.

Palworld's latest Terraria-themed update brought a ton of new equipment, dungeons, enemies, and even a fishing mini-game for players to check out. So it's not that surprising to see Palword jump back into Steam's Top 10 most-played games.
Previously sat at number nine, Palworld was wedged between Stardew Valley and Elden Ring Nightreign with a 24-hour peak of 122,397 players—pretty impressive company to be among. This achievement hasn't gone without celebration though with community manager John 'Bucky' Buckley commenting on the continued success of Palworld (via GamesRadar).
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"It's nice to see Palworld consistently reach the top 10 every major update," Buckley says on social media. "A million thank yous to you, gamers." But within the same breath, Buckley also admits that the same old hate probably won't be too far behind all of the recent success: "I'm sure it'll be branded a 'dead game' for the 100th time a week from now."
Palworld's success came out of nowhere, at least in the sense that not many were expecting it to do anywhere near as well as it did. In just six days Palworld managed to become the second game ever to hit more than 2 million concurrent players, putting it ahead of Counter-Strike 2, Dota, and anything that isn't PUBG: Battlegrounds.
But nothing can last forever, and before long Palworld went from an outstanding performance to a bobbing between great and good, which with all things considered is still a remarkable achievement for any game after the initial hype dies down.
But some would suggest that Palworld's fluctuating player count would mark it a dead game. Buckley has spoken out about this trend before saying the 'dead game' fixation is ruining gaming and that it doesn't "serve anyone to push gamers to play the same game, day in and day out."
Buckley has also reassured players that "It's fine to take a break from games," and that no one's expecting all of Palworld's fans to stick around constantly. Just the fact that it makes its way back into the Top 10 most played Steam games when a new update launches is proof enough that its fanbase is still alive and kicking because the "dead game" rhetoric is getting pretty old now.
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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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