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How to make a viral video-game hit in the era of Discord and Twitch
Where two congresswoman streamed video games with YouTube stars
TL;DR — Among Us succeeded out of nowhere because it had multiple low barriers to entry, and was a social experience over just a gameplay experience. Twitch streamers used this social element as their own flywheel, collaborating with other popular streamers to make each game its own massive event and spectacle.
Among Us, a low-budget murder-mystery style video game, was released in 2018. The gameplay is simple — finish tasks while trying to figure out which of your space crewmates is secretely a murder (the “impostor”). It never did amazing numbers, but with regular updates, it persisted, maintaining a few thousand players a month. The developers — all three of them — kept the game running using their savings accounts. Hardly any marketing was considered, as in their own words they were “really bad at marketing.”
Turns out, that didn’t really matter. It’s a viral hit. The game went from a few thousand players a day to millions. It’s been downloaded over 100 million times. Almost 4 million people follow the game on Twitch. All in just two months, and without being available on any of the major game consoles. Just PC and mobile.
