Palworld lead defends launch rival Enshrouded, says Pocketpair didn't eat the survival game's lunch and was fortunate to stand out in a "stacked" time for the genre

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Having a successful game involves no small amount of luck, and Palworld is no exception. The merger of survival gameplay and monster collecting launched around several other notably similar releases, including Enshrouded, which a Pocketpair lead believes is among the cream of the crop.

On Twitter, YouTuber Adiofreak suggests that Enshrouded would've been bigger if it hadn't come out near Palworld. This prompted John 'Bucky' Buckley, the head of publishing and communications at Pocketpair, to speak up for Keen Games's fantasy sandbox.

"People often forget how stacked that time was for survival games," he starts. "Palworld, Enshrouded, Nightingale and Sons of Forest (1.0) all launched within a few weeks of each other. Sales numbers and CCU are misunderstood online, but by all metrics Enshrouded was a huge success! 10/10 game!"

Article continues below Enshrouded - Forging the Path | Update 8 Highlights - YouTube Watch On

After entering early access in January 2024, Enshrouded had attracted five million overall players two years later, in January 2026. Even before then, though, it hit one million players in its first four days, refusing to be buried by Palworld's shadow after the creature collector surpassed a whopping two million concurrent players on Steam shortly after launch. Enshrouded's full release is scheduled for this year, in the fall, and Buckley's keen for people to give it a look.

"Highly recommend. One of the best survival games around," he says, pointing towards a current discount on Steam for Palworld and Enshrouded bundled together. Even if you already have the former, you can get the latter at a lower price than normal, should you have the money, time and interest. A new update just went out for Enshrouded as well, creating yet more interest.

It's always nice to see devs and publishers giving nods to their competition, because it reminds you we're all just here to enjoy great art. It's just a pity sometimes that good games have to compete against each other, when there's really plenty of success to go around.

Palworld 1.0 is "still in the oven," Pocketpair publishing lead says, before teasing that the studio will "crack the oven open a little when it's nearly done"

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Anthony McGlynnContributing Writer

Anthony is an Irish entertainment and games journalist, now based in Glasgow. He previously served as Senior Anime Writer at Dexerto and News Editor at The Digital Fix, on top of providing work for Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PC Gamer, and many more. Besides Studio Ghibli, horror movies, and The Muppets, he enjoys action-RPGs, heavy metal, and pro-wrestling. He interviewed Animal once, not that he won’t stop going on about it or anything.

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