Palworld’s Community Manager, John Buckley, has spoken out about the negative impact of labeling games as “dead.” Bucky believes that the gaming industry’s obsession with player counts and the “dead game” narrative harms both players and developers.

When Palworld launched in early 2024, it was a massive hit, reaching over two million concurrent players on Steam. However, as with many games, player numbers declined over time, leading some to label Palworld as a “dead game.”

Bucky addressed this decline, emphasizing that it’s normal for players to move on to other games. “There are so many amazing games out there to play,” he said.

In a recent conversation with the YouTube channel Going Indie, Bucky expanded on his views. He argued that pushing gamers to stick with one game isn’t beneficial. “It’s not healthy for us, it’s not healthy for developers, it’s not healthy for gamers, it’s not healthy for gaming media,” Bucky said. He added that this mentality pressures large companies to produce more live service games, which often fail and get shut down within a year.

Bucky urged gamers to support indie developers and enjoy a variety of games, regardless of player counts. “Who cares if there’s only five people playing it? Just enjoy yourself. Just enjoy games,” he said.

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