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Live service games typically compete with each other for the finite resource that is gamers’ attention. Conventional wisdom in the games industry would have you believe that most gamers only have time to invest in one such title at a time. However, two live service games both appear to be attracting high player numbers alongside each other: Palworld and Helldivers 2.
According to Palworld developers Pocketpair, their creature collector has passed the 25 million player mark. This includes both the 15 million players on Steam and 10 million on Xbox Game Pass, both within a month of its launch. While concurrent player count has dropped off somewhat since the game launched, community manager Bucky said on X that this is normal. They also encouraged players to try other games while waiting on new Palworld content, saying, “you don’t need to feel guilty about hopping from game to game.”
It appears that one such game players have hopped to is Helldivers 2, Arrowhead’s surprise hit third-person shooter. According to SteamDB, that title has passed the 450,000 concurrent player mark on Steam. While we don’t have the total number of copies sold, the high player count would imply a decent number. And both games having a high player count suggests that at least some gamers are playing both simultaneously.
There are some cases where gamers make a clear choice between two live service games. For example, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League failed to retain what few players it did attract and maintained a fraction of the engagement that Helldivers 2 did. However, both Palworld and Helldivers 2 achieving decent numbers means that gamers — some of them, at least — can make space for both.
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