January has been the most prolific month in Xbox history in terms of total playtime, thanks in part to the huge success of Palworld. Although Microsoft has not revealed specific figures, as is usual for the company, they have given us some clues.
For example, Xbox has announced that Palworld, an Xbox Game Preview title by Pocket Pair, also known as “Pokemon with guns” (unofficially), has already surpassed 10 million players on Xbox, which gives us an idea.
“2024 has had a fast start with players this year: Xbox had its biggest month ever on consoles last January, measured by playtime,” Xbox explains on its website. This record includes the playtime of players who were enjoying Palworld, a title that is part of Game Pass.
Finding the needle in the haystack
In the same announcement, Microsoft also mentioned that Xbox is committed to supporting independent developers, with over 3,500 games from independent developers in more than 100 countries currently being developed for Xbox and Windows.
Xbox offers several programs to help creators reach players. Among them are the open proposals portal and the Indie Selects program.
The open launch portal allows developers to submit their games to be considered for Game Pass and the Developer Acceleration Program. Since its launch in August, hundreds of studios have used the portal.
And the success of Palworld is an example of what they can achieve with a good game discovery and support program.
