Cursed Pokemon-like Palworld is climbing up the Twitch charts, and it's not even officially out yet

How to catch pals in Palworld
(Image credit: Pocket Pair Inc.)

Palworld, aka the upcoming 'Pokemon with guns' game, is already getting thousands of views on Twitch, despite not releasing until tomorrow. 

As reported by PC Gamer, we're just hours away from gaining access to one of the most bizarre Pokemon-likes ever created, and its popularity is already being demonstrated on Twitch

Palworld seems to already be going viral on the streaming platform with approximately 60,000 viewers (as of Wednesday morning PT) tuning in to see what it's all about. This number grew to around 85,000 viewers throughout the day, which brings it to around the same audience numbers as Fortnite. That's pretty impressive for an indie game.

As of January 18 (2pm GMT), Twitch Tracker says Palworld has over 60,000 live viewers - however, the timing of this story does limit this slightly, as some of the world hasn't started their days yet. According to the statistics, Palworld's audience peaked on January 16 when it reportedly clocked in a massive 100,635 viewers. This number is likely to be reached again once Palworld releases on January 19. 

If you're curious to see what kind of antics players are already getting up to in Palworld, take a look at some of the clips below. 

It's not too surprising to see a game like Palworld do well on Twitch. For starters, it clearly bears a resemblance to Nintendo's Pokemon series - albeit with a little more chaos thrown in - so much so, that some fans have questioned how legit the game is in the first place. 

Luckily, for those hoping to try this one out for themselves, ahead of the creature collecting game's release, its developer reassured fans that "it is not a scam" or "a money-making MMO or virtual currency game" - which is good to know. 

In preparation for the shooter's release, find out is Palworld cross-platform?

You can also find out exactly when it's set to go live with our Palworld countdown.

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.