“That’s just how it works”: Palworld community manager weighs in on player count debate

Palworld has seen a sudden surge in its Steam player count, owing to the Sakurajima Update released on June 27, 2024. The monster-tamer title from Pocketpair gained huge traction online with its early access release back in January 2024, accruing over two million players according to Steam. As players quickly maxed out their stats and events in the game, player count dwindled.

With the recent Palworld Sakurajima Update, the scenario has greatly changed, and this was to be expected. However, the internet is abuzz with this sudden increase in player count, and Community Manager Bucky took to X to finally voice their opinion on this subject. Regarding the fluctuations in player numbers, they stated:

In a few weeks it’ll go down again, and next major update it’ll go up. That’s just how it works."

In this article, we look at what Bucky has to say about this numbers game, which according to them is more of a "bait" and less of an actual matter that players should be concerned about.

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Palworld community manager voices opinion on "engagement bait"

In a recent message that was directed toward the Palworld community in general, a community manager named Bucky addressed the ongoing debate surrounding the game's player count after the Sakurajima Update.

Taking to their official X handle, Bucky urged players to avoid getting "baited" into arguments about the game's numbers on any social media, including the likes of Discord, Reddit, or X.

While acknowledging the community's dedication and passion for defending their game, Bucky also mentioned how these discussions are more than often simply "engagement bait". The community manager stated:

"Those posts are pure engagement bait. 99% of them are basically just NPCs desperate for a post to “do numbers” and the other 1% is just the media doing what media do."

While Bucky is aware of the heated debates making rounds on the internet, where many users tagged the community manager as well, they reassured players that these fluctuations are natural. They further stated on their X profile:

"Palworld had 2mil, then it had 15k, now it has 140k…it’s not something to get angry about. In a few weeks it’ll go down again, and next major update it’ll go up. That’s just how it works."

In most games, the onset of a new season or update spells a surge in player count. This "ebb and flow" pattern is consistent with most games and will be especially relevant for Palworld where finishing the content in a single update can be fairly easy owing to the game's custom settings.

Bucky further emphasized how the player count is irrelevant when it comes to enjoying the game. They mentioned:

"Palworld could have literally 1 person playing it and that won’t take away from the fact that YOU played a fun game and have fun memories of it."

Bucky concluded his message by urging the community to reject the negativity that is more than often prevalent in the gaming culture and to stay away from any discussion dragging out this topic:

"Don’t let this constant gamer culture of dragging every game down, bickering, arguing, faux console war nonsensical garbo bait you into giving up even a second of your day."

Bucky urged gamers to simply play whatever game they like, instead of resorting to baited discussions on numbers:

"Play whatever games you want, don’t play whatever games you want. If you like it, great! If you don’t like, move on. There’s countless other games out there to try."

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The post and the ongoing discussion on Palworld's numbers demonstrate how the gaming community can be quite critical at times.