Palworld briefly claimed the top position on Steam’s most-played games chart, moving ahead of Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2 after Pocketpair’s long-awaited 1.0 release.
The survival game’s full launch brought a large wave of players and strong reactions on Steam. Its player count climbed high enough to pass Valve’s competitive shooter more than once on the platform’s most-played games chart.
Pocketpair’s head of publishing and communications, John “Bucky” Buckley, shared a screenshot of the chart on July 16, 2026. The image showed Palworld in first place, with Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2 immediately behind it.
“Pause. Let me enjoy this moment for just a little longer,” Buckley wrote alongside the screenshot in a post on X.
Pause.
Let me enjoy this moment for just a little longer. pic.twitter.com/SDfuYLBJLV
— Bucky | Palworld (@Bucky_cm) July 16, 2026
The moment also drew a response from Will Powers, Pearl Abyss’ PR and marketing director, who called the result well deserved. Buckley answered with a short “Thank you, gamer.”
Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe celebrated the milestone in a separate post on X, thanking players and saying he was glad they were enjoying the game.
今、Steam上でパルワールドが全世界で最もプレイされているゲームらしいです！
1.0、苦労して開発し続けてきたけれど、皆様が楽しんで下さっているようで本当に嬉しいです！！
心から感謝申し上げます🙇♂️ pic.twitter.com/sf23F7fHCp— Takuro Mizobe | Palworld (@urokuta_ja) July 16, 2026
Palworld’s 1.0 update arrived with a large amount of new and revised content, giving the game a fresh reason to pull players back in. Pocketpair also has more projects in development, including Palfarm, a multiplayer farming game with a gentler focus, and a Palworld dating sim.
For now, the Steam chart victory belongs to Palworld, even if it lasted only briefly. Passing Counter-Strike 2 at the top of the PC platform’s daily player rankings is still quite a moment for Pocketpair.
What do you think of Palworld’s brief run at number one on Steam? Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, and Instagram.
Palworld
Developed by PocketPair
Palworld is a multiplayer, open-world survival crafting game where you can befriend and collect mysterious creatures called "Pal" in a vast world! Make your Pals fight, build, farm, and work in factories.
- Genre: Shooter, Role-playing (RPG), Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Adventure, Indie
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Mac, Xbox One
- Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO)
- Release: 2024-01-19
- Publisher: PocketPair
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Age Rating:
ACB PG / PEGI 12 / GRAC ALL / CLASS_IND 10 / ESRB T / USK 12
- IGDB Rating: 71.5/100
