What’s Palworld if your pals are catching Pals on another version of Palworld?
Xbox Game Pass is a wonderful thing for the budget-conscious gamer, but issues have arisen with Palworld, as it isn’t as feature-complete as it is on Steam.
But fret not – we’ve got the version differences explained to make heads and tails of the situation.
It’s a real shame there are discrepancies between the two, as Palworld is well-suited to playing with friends, but the current lack of crossplay is preventing huge pools of gamers from intermingling – although it is said to be on the way.
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Hopefully, these issues can be resolved by the time Palworld comes to other platforms, so that we can all be pals smacking Pals in harmony.
Fortunately, the Game Pass version is still a lot of fun, and no doubt a massive boon for Microsoft – but how does it differ to the Steam version? Read on to find out.
Why is Palworld different on Xbox Game Pass and Steam?
Palworld is different on Xbox Game Pass and Steam due to the certification process used on Game Pass, which takes longer than Steam.
This means that patches are slower to roll out on the Game Pass version, as the certification team will be checking out each patch for considerably longer.
Due to Palworld being an early access title, patches are released quite frequently, allowing the Steam version to pull ahead considerably – which may go some way towards explaining the huge number of players on the platform.
As reported by Brendan Lowry for Windows Central, community manager Bucky explained on Discord: “Some of these things will take extra time… We’re really at the mercy of the certification here. We’re desperately trying to speed this up.”
Bucky went on to provide more details, saying: “Issues like the missing exit game button etc are not a result of an ‘older build’, these are separate issues.”
Bucky added: “Steam and Xbox will likely never have identical version numbers until the games are brought to be [crossplay] compatible, because at that point they will be the same game internally.”
What are the differences between Palworld on Xbox Game Pass and Steam?
As of writing, there are a number of disparities between the Xbox Game Pass and Steam versions of Palworld, some of which we have listed below for you.
- Steam has support for 32 players on a server, whereas on Game Pass you can only have four-player co-op
- Issues with audio bugs (which have since been fixed)
- The aforementioned missing exit button for quitting the game
- Different names for items in the game
- Certain features function slightly differently or are unlocked via other means
As time goes on, this should continue to improve – but in the meantime, you may be left out if your pals have bought the game on Steam and you have the Game Pass version.
Read more on Palworld:
- Palworld Pals — the full list to collect
- Do Pals evolve? How to improve yours
- Palworld patch notes — what changed?
- Is Palworld free? Cheap ways to play
- Palworld sales numbers — latest figures
- Palworld Depresso — fans embrace an icon
- Palworld starters — best early game Pals
- Palworld breeding explained — how to breed
- Palworld PC requirements — can you run it?
- Will Palworld come to PS4, Mac and Switch? Platforms explained
- Palworld server status — how to check
- Palworld multiplayer explained — is it crossplay?
- Palworld achievements — the full list
- Palworld reviews — our round-up
- Is Palworld on Game Pass? Key details
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