8 Video Games That Blew Up Thanks To YOU
These games were huge hits because YOU did your part.
The gaming industry is a tough racket, where even the most talented of developers can struggle to get their great games the recognition they so thoroughly deserve. But if recent years have proven anything, it’s that a savvy knowledge of social media trends will go a long way.
Basically, if you can get your game in front of streamers and have it trending on social channels, there’s a good chance it’ll translate into a hit.
As calculated as these marketing campaigns often are, it ultimately still comes down to players finding charm and merit in the game itself, because if they feel like they’re being pandered to, the masses will bounce off a game long before it actually releases.
These games all ended up blowing up, however, thanks to streamers popularising them on platforms like Twitch, and of course, gamers at large helping their popularity spread through memes and chit-chat on Twitter, Reddit, and so on.
While the biggest AAA games generally aren’t driven to success by grassroots word-of-mouth, where smaller indie and AA titles are concerned, capturing a slice of the zeitgeist will often mean the difference between a hit and a flop…
8. Among Us
Now, it would be massively understating the case to ignore the Very Special Circumstances that led social deduction game Among Us to become a viral phenomenon. After all, it initially released in 2018 to little fanfare, with a concurrent Steam player count in the triple-digits at best.
But that all changed shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020.
A few months later, Twitch streamer Sodapoppin began playing it, prompting numerous other prominent streamers to follow suit, causing a domino effect whereby Among Us quickly became a word-of-mouth social media smash.
By September 2020, the game had almost half a million concurrent players on Steam alone, its popularity no doubt further exacerbated by lockdown notices keeping players at home across the globe, while craving a fun, socially-focused multiplayer game to provide some mental relief.
Couple this with the game's widely-invoked slang "sus" becoming one of 2020's biggest memes, and Among Us quite organically ballooned from a largely ignored multiplayer game into a worldwide sensation.
It proved successful enough that developer Innersloth even cancelled plans for a sequel to instead focus on serving their existing customer base. You love to see it.