The 2018 Game That Exploded in 2020

Among Us launched in June 2018 from indie studio InnerSloth to near-total obscurity—averaging 30-50 concurrent players for two years. The social deduction game (4-10 players on a spaceship, 1-3 Impostors sabotaging and killing Crewmates) received minimal attention until July 2020 when Brazilian and Korean streamers discovered it.

The Pandemic Party Game

COVID-19 created perfect conditions for Among Us’s explosion. With lockdowns isolating people, simple social games playable over voice chat became essential. Among Us was:

• Cross-platform: PC (Steam) and mobile (iOS/Android) players in same lobbies
• Free on mobile: Zero barrier to entry for friend groups
• Accessible: Simple controls, low system requirements, no skill ceiling
• Social: Required talking—became virtual hangout replacing in-person game nights

By September 2020, Among Us had 500 million monthly active users and was the most-watched game on Twitch (4.5 billion minutes viewed that month). Every major streamer played it—xQc, Pokimane, Disguised Toast, Corpse Husband, AOC hosted a 435,000-concurrent-viewer stream on October 20, 2020.

”Emergency Meeting” and Meme Culture

Among Us generated TikTok and Twitter’s dominant memes in late 2020:

• “That’s sus” / “Sussy”: Short for suspicious, became universal slang
• Emergency Meeting: The button to call votes, applied to any shocking situation
• “Where?” / “Who?”: Lobbies instantly spamming locations when bodies reported
• Venting: Impostors using vents for fast travel, synonymous with self-incriminating behavior
• Electrical deaths: The map’s most dangerous room became a running joke
• Crewmate/Impostor colors: Players adopted “I’m Red” / “Blue sus” identities
• “Sussy baka”: TikTok mashup of “sus” and Japanese “baka” (idiot), extremely cursed

The bean-shaped astronaut characters were endlessly memed—drawn in every art style, 3D-printed, made into plushies. Among Us became so omnipresent it reached annoying saturation by December 2020.

Corpse Husband and Proximity Chat

Among Us launched several streaming careers. Corpse Husband’s ultra-deep voice made him the game’s breakout personality—his Among Us compilations drew 20-50 million views. Streamers formed consistent lobby groups, creating narrative arcs and inside jokes. Disguised Toast’s “5000 IQ plays” showcased high-level deduction. Valkyrae’s reactions spawned countless clips.

The game’s lack of built-in proximity chat led to mods enabling location-based audio—Crewmates could only hear nearby players, adding stealth elements. Modded Among Us with proximity chat, hide-and-seek modes, and custom roles (Sheriff, Jester, etc.) extended the game’s lifespan.

InnerSloth’s Three-Person Studio Crisis

Among Us’s success broke InnerSloth. The three-person team suddenly managed 500 million players and fought constant hackers. They canceled Among Us 2 development to focus on updating the original game. Major updates added:

• The Airship map (March 2021): Largest map, Henry Stickmin crossover
• Accounts and reporting systems (October 2020): Combat toxicity
• Quick Chat (February 2021): Kid-safe preset messages
• 15-player lobbies (June 2021): Increased chaos
• Roles update (November 2021): Built-in Sheriff, Scientist, Engineer, Guardian Angel

But each update came months late—momentum had already peaked.

The Inevitable Decline (2021-2022)

By mid-2021, Among Us fatigue set in. The gameplay loop was too simple to sustain years of engagement. Streamers moved on to new games. Mobile player counts dropped 80% from peak. The Fall Guys trajectory repeated: viral pandemic game, unsustainable hype, rapid decline.

Among Us settled at ~50-100 million monthly players by 2022—still successful by most standards, but a fraction of peak. The game’s cultural impact endured: “sus” entered permanent internet vocabulary, and social deduction games saw renewed interest (Project Winter, Goose Goose Duck).

VR and Platform Expansions

Among Us VR launched in November 2022 for Meta Quest 2, offering first-person immersion. PlayStation and Xbox versions (December 2021) brought console players into the ecosystem. But these expansions felt like capitalizing on fading relevance rather than reigniting it.

Among Us proved that tiny indie studios could achieve billion-player reach given the right timing and virality—but sustaining that success required resources and development speed InnerSloth never had. Their slow response to the explosion let competitors steal momentum.

Sources:

• GameIndustry.biz “How Among Us Took Over the World” (October 2020)
• TwitchTracker Among Us viewership statistics (2020-2022)
• InnerSloth developer blog posts (2020-2021)
• New York Times “The Meteoric Rise of Among Us” (October 2020)