Among Us, the murder mystery game that's all the rage right now, accrued four billion views on YouTube in September.
That's mega. Released in 2018 by a three-person team by the name of Innersloth, the game didn't get too much traction initially, and boasted just under 300 daily active users at the start of 2020. Come August, Among Us saw a 800% increase in the number of average players, with a peak player count of 438,524 in September. Its sudden surge in popularity was partly thanks to Twitch streamers such as Sodapoppin, Pewdiepie, Shroud, and Ninja playing it with their friends.
The premise of Among Us is devious, yet highly compelling. Like the party game Werewolves or the TV show Trapped!, a group of players are crewmates on a shuttle, station, or planetary base. Somewhere out in space, basically. They must complete a set of tasks in this location, but, one or more of their fellow team members is an impostor. The impostor will use vents to travel between different rooms and murder unaware crewmates. Once a body has been discovered, it's down to what remains of the team (and the impostor) to work out who is killing them off.
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If the crewmates successfully unmask the impostor and chuck them out into space, they win. However, if the impostor(s) successfully sabotages the station and/or picks off all of the innocent players, they win. Its slapstick comedy and accessibility on PC and mobile platforms has made it a smash-hit, and there's the data to back it up. YouTube finds that gameplay videos of Among Us are the most prevalent form of content for the game.
However, there is a portion of the videos that are animated sketches of the scenes on the space station, showing the impact Among Us has had on content creators who might've never encountered the game otherwise. In addition, the most viewed Among Us videos often come from channels with low numbers of subscribers. The appeal of the game is universal, and if you could catch that wave, then your video would surely rise to the top.
Innersloth were understandably floored by the reception to their game, two years after its release. With the servers more or less stable now, the developer is planning to implement new features to freshen up the game. For example, a colourblind mode will be added, so that players will be able to complete the tasks that rely on joining the same colour of wire together. In the meantime, the team will continue its work on a bumper update for the game, which would have been Among Us 2. We'll keep you in the loop once we know more.
Featured Image Credit: InnerslothTopics: Mobile Games, Among Us