The ‘Pokémon With Guns’ survival game Palworld is currently exploding on Steam, where players can create and join dedicated servers that allow up to 32 players to play in the same world and form guilds together. On Xbox, however, collaboration is more limited.
Speaking on the Palword Discord, developer Pocketpair said that those playing on an Xbox console or Xbox PC via Game Pass or the Microsoft Store will not be able to create or join private servers, meaning online co-op is limited to two or four players.
“We’d love to have dedicated servers on Xbox, but unfortunately that’s out of our hands and it’s pretty hard to negotiate right now!” Pocketpair representative said. “But … we try!”
When Pocketpair says that it is “out of our hands” to add dedicated servers on Xbox, it’s not clear what it means when other games have dedicated servers on Xbox. IGN has requested comment.
It’s a disappointing start for Palworld on Xbox and Windows PC, and it comes as Palworld on Steam looks set to break concurrent player records over the weekend. At the time of this article’s publication, an incredible 318,000 accounts were registered as playing Palword at the same time, making it the third most popular game on Steam. The lack of dedicated servers on Xbox is likely to affect purchasing decisions for the platform, especially for customers hoping to play the game with a large group of friends.
Meanwhile, during the launch, Xbox players will only be able to play together, not with those on Steam. “We are working to do it as soon as possible!” Pocketpair said. This also means that PC Game Pass players cannot play with Steam until cross-play is added.
As for a PlayStation 5 version, Pocketpair said there are currently no plans, but will consider it during development.
Here’s how multiplayer works in Palworld: On Steam, you can play Palworld with up to three friends by simply starting a multiplayer game and inviting them (four-player co-op). In addition, you can create a special server that allows up to 32 players to play in the same world and create guilds together. There are also official servers managed by Pocketpair.
As such, Xbox players do not enjoy the same experience as Steam players and cannot currently play with Steam users. Finger cross parity is achieved sooner rather than later.
Check out IGN’s ongoing Palworld Early Access Review to find out what we think.
Wesley is the UK news editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or privately at wyp100@proton.me.