In 2020 with everyone locked up in their homes, a new game took the world by storm. Among Us by Innersloth which had been out since 2018 saw huge numbers of downloads after several YouTubers started playing the game. Among Us was huge during 2020 with almost everyone playing it or at least hearing of it. But after 2020 its popularity died. Why?
Why Among Us Skyrocketed in 2020
When the pandemic hit in 2020 two things saw a sharp rise in popularity; video games and YouTube. People who were desperate to connect with their friends used video games as a way to talk and play together while being stuck at home meant more time to watch YouTube. It was around that time that popular YouTubers began trying out a new game called Among Us. Among Us is a game of mystery where people are assigned to either be crewmates or impostors. Crewmates fix a ship by completing tasks while impostors kill the crew and sabotage the ship. The catch is that the crew doesn't know who the impostors are so they must work together to vote out the right person. This game style was a hit. Players could send lobby codes to one another and play with their friends and it was a great quick-play style game, meaning the games didn't last too long to make people bored. This was an incredible combination that ended up with Among Us becoming so successful in 2020.
The Journey to Consoles
Among Us did have one major drawback and that was that it wasn't featured on powerful consoles and was only on Nintendo Switch, PC, and mobile. This was fine in the beginning as many players has mobile access and, after all, the mobile edition is free so it wasn't a huge concern to many players. But after a while, many players began to wish that the game was on Xbox and PlayStation. After all, many of their other games and friends were on consoles, so it made sense for the game to be added to their consoles to grant more convenience. Among Us was eventually added to Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, and PS5 in December 2021, but by then the damage had been done.
The Slippery Slope
Among Us rode high during 2020 and into 2021 but around February 2021 things started to slow down. One of the most anticipated elements of Among Us was the upcoming new map The Airship. The Airship is Among Us's largest and most complex map with new rooms, tasks, and puzzles. When the Nintendo Switch version of the game was released in December 2020 a bug allowed players to see the Airship. While this bug was soon patched, many players got to get an early look at the new map. One thing that companies need to note when releasing new content is to let the excitement mature properly. Innersloth did not let the Airships hype build properly. By giving players a look at what appeared to be a completed map and then releasing it four months later it made players bored. Many players including myself stopped playing Among Us before the Airship was released.
The Desperate Attempts
Over 2021 and 2022 Innersloth have made several attempts to recapture the audience. In 2021 they added their own take on seasonal adventures called Cosmicubes which work very similarly to seasonal events but are chosen by the player instead of set by the game. They also added new roles to the game in an attempt to create new playstyles which worked fairly well but still didn't bring the game back to its former glory. However, all hope is not lost because in 2022 they introduced a new and honestly really interesting mode called Hide and Seek. They've also teased on Twitter about a possible upcoming Map 5. All-in-all, Among Us is still a good game but it just couldn't keep up with the audience. Maybe one day it will capture the same spark as it did once. Only time will tell.
Written by Tom Conmy
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