The Nintendo Palworld lawsuit hasn't stopped the survival hit from debuting at the top of Japan's PS5 charts, beating Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero and Metaphor: ReFantazio

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"Thank you PlayStation gamers!"

Pal wields a massive turret in a screenshot from Palworld
(Image credit: Pocketpair)

Palworld developer Pocketpair may be in the middle of a legal battle against Nintendo and The Pokemon Company, but that's not stopped its hit survival game from having a phenomenal first month on PS5. 

Palworld made its debut on PS5 in a surprise launch on September 26 in 68 countries, although a short delay meant that it came to Japan slightly later on October 4. Clearly, a lot of PlayStation owners were eager to give the survival game a go because it's number one in October's PS5 download rankings in Japan and number 10 in the US and Canada, according to PlayStation's official roundup. 

It had some fierce competition for those places, too. In Japan, it managed to beat both Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero and Metaphor: ReFantazio – two enormous October releases, as well as the likes of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, the Silent Hill 2 remake, and more. The ranking in the US and Canada is quite different, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on top and Undisputed in third, although Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is notably still in second place. Palworld also managed to beat Metaphor: ReFantazio a second time to squeeze its way into the top 10. 

"Palworld didn't do too bad on PS5 in October it seems!" Palworld community manager and game designer Bucky writes on Twitter, sharing the charts. "Thank you PlayStation gamers!"

Palworld developer responds to Nintendo lawsuit, says "we will do our utmost" to ensure that indie devs "are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas."

Catherine Lewis
Catherine Lewis
Deputy News Editor

I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.