Back in 2018, Innersloth, a small American game development company, published the game Among Us. Innersloth initially released it to little mainstream success. That stayed that way for two years. For the most part, the developers wanted to give up on the game. That is, until August 2020. Then, everything started to change. 

Nearly instantaneously, the game started to blow up in popularity. When Among Us was initially published, it averaged about 30-50 players online. This amount did increase into the low thousands, but the game never took off. However, in an extensive leap in popularity, hundreds of thousands of players on average concurrently play the game, with peaks into half a million. But what is Among Us about, and how did it get so popular so suddenly?

It has to do with the game’s format. Among Us is a multiplayer social deduction game with a relatively simple, easy-to-learn premise. These traits make it very easy to play with others at any time. People looking for things to play with their friends during the lockdown made the game a prevalent choice. With the ability to set up groups, anybody is able to quickly play games with friends from anywhere.

In addition, several popular video game streamers played the game, which brought in many players, furthering the game’s successes. The non-competitive nature of Among Us makes it easy for anybody to play. 

The success of Among Us shows how the games don’t need good graphics or the best gameplay to be successful. They just need to be something friends can play with and enjoy. As lockdown boredom continues to settle in, Among Us continues to consistently be one of the most popular games out there, despite its meager origins.