Among Us
Documents about Among Us
Superstar Session: Uncover Opportunities & Expand Your Portfolio by Understanding Gamer Preferences
This session explores how granular market data and refined game taxonomies enable developers to identify growth opportunities and optimize portfolio expansion.
- Core games, specifically strategy and RPG titles, generated nearly 50% of global consumer spending during the first half of 2020.
- While hyper-casual games lead in total download volume, core games command the majority of total time spent by players.
- Battle royale titles maintain significant engagement depth despite accounting for only a small fraction of total mobile game downloads.
Top Mobile Games Worldwide for October 2020 by Downloads
The mobile gaming industry experienced significant shifts in user acquisition during October 2020, characterized by the continued dominance of viral titles and the successful entry of high-profile new releases.
- Among Us remained the most downloaded mobile game worldwide in October 2020 with 74.8 million installs, a 50-fold increase compared to October 2019.
- Subway Surfers ranked second with 19.8 million installs, marking a 13.7% year-over-year increase.
- Genshin Impact entered the top five most downloaded games in October 2020 with 16.4 million installs.
Facebook's Cloud Gaming Aspirations and the Rise of Social Gaming
This analysis examines the evolving landscape of the video game industry in late 2020, focusing on Facebook’s strategic entry into cloud gaming and the pandemic-driven surge in social gaming.
- The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed a massive surge in social gaming, with Roblox reaching 150 million monthly active users, Minecraft hitting 131 million, and Among Us exceeding 100 million downloads.
- Facebook’s cloud gaming strategy focuses on a mobile-centric, ad-supported model that prioritizes accessibility over high-end technical performance to avoid direct competition with console hardware.
- Social gaming platforms succeeded by providing structured environments with clear rules and objectives, which helped users maintain interpersonal connections during the pandemic.
Quibi's Collapse: An Exercise in Humility
The collapse of Quibi serves as a primary case study for the failure of top-down, high-capital media ventures that prioritize corporate interests over user-centric innovation.
- Quibi failed to achieve product-market fit despite $1.8 billion in funding because its rigid, closed-door development model ignored user preference for organic and interactive media.
- The success of titles like Among Us and Hades demonstrates that industry value is shifting toward accessibility and human engagement over the sheer scale of capital investment.
- Tencent’s merger of Huya and DouYu consolidated the Chinese esports and marketing sector, creating a dominant entity with 334 million monthly active users and a 67.5% voting share.
Top Mobile Games Worldwide: September 2020
The mobile gaming landscape in September 2020 was defined by the rapid ascent of Among Us, which claimed the top spot globally with 83.8 million installs.
- Among Us was the most downloaded mobile game worldwide in September 2020 with 83.8 million installs, representing a 40-fold increase compared to September 2019.
- Among Us experienced a 356% month-on-month growth in downloads, rising from the No. 9 spot in August to No. 1 in September.
- Scribble Rider by Voodoo ranked as the second most installed mobile game globally in September 2020, reaching 22.7 million downloads.
Global App Revenue Grew 32% Year-Over-Year in Q3 2020
Global mobile app revenue reached $29.3 billion in the third quarter of 2020, representing a 32 percent year-over-year increase.
- Global mobile app revenue reached $29.3 billion in Q3 2020, a 32% year-over-year increase, while total installs grew 23.3% to 36.5 billion.
- Apple's App Store generated $19 billion in revenue (up 31% Y/Y), while Google Play generated $10.3 billion (up 33.8% Y/Y).
- Mobile game spending grew 26.7% year-over-year to $20.9 billion, with Tencent's 'Honor of Kings' and 'PUBG Mobile' ranking as the top two highest-grossing titles.
Spellbreak's Hype Get, PlayStation Plus Collection, & More
This analysis explores evolving strategies for video game discoverability and platform engagement as of September 2020.
- Platform holders are shifting focus from individual unit sales to ecosystem retention, exemplified by Sony’s PlayStation Plus Collection for PS5 and Apple’s integration of Apple Arcade into the Apple One subscription bundle.
- Developers without established fan bases can gain market traction by prioritizing viral-friendly platforms like Reddit and Imgur alongside centralized community management via Discord.
- Successful game discoverability increasingly relies on creating distinct visual hooks optimized for short-form video content to capture audience attention.
Top Mobile Games Worldwide for August 2020: Downloads
The mobile gaming landscape in August 2020 was characterized by high-volume installs led by hyper-casual titles.
- Voodoo’s Scribble Rider was the most downloaded mobile game worldwide in August 2020, reaching 44.6 million installs.
- Brain Wash by SayGames secured the second position with approximately 30 million downloads during the same period.
- Among Us experienced a significant surge in popularity, with downloads increasing 661% month-over-month to reach 18.4 million, ranking it ninth globally.
Among Us: The 6 Lessons of Their Viral Success
The viral success of the multiplayer game Among Us serves as a case study for indie developers, debunking the myth that overnight popularity is a repeatable marketing strategy.
- Viral success is not a repeatable strategy; developers should build businesses on sustainable, long-term sales rather than relying on unpredictable 'lightning-in-a-bottle' events.
- Multiplayer games require a significant existing audience to survive; Innersloth’s co-founder leveraged a 13-year history of building a following on Newgrounds and social media to overcome early player-count struggles.
- Marketing is a cumulative process of 'trading up' through platform partnerships, where initial visibility on itch.io led to streamer interest, which eventually caught Valve’s attention for a Daily Deal and subsequent Steam Summer Sale.
Behind the Dizzying Ride to the Top for Among Us
The unexpected rise of the multiplayer party game Among Us serves as a case study in unconventional game discovery and long-term audience cultivation.
- The success of Among Us was driven by a viral surge in 2020, two years after its 2018 launch, proving that sustained development can lead to delayed global prominence.
- A Steam daily deal in early 2020 served as a critical inflection point, significantly boosting baseline sales and wishlist counts to provide the momentum necessary for mainstream adoption.
- The game’s initial growth was anchored in non-Western markets, specifically Brazil, Korea, and the Middle East, before expanding into North America and Europe.
Can Influencer-Branded Game Stores Work?
The emergence of influencer-branded game stores represents a novel attempt to leverage the influence of streamers to drive game discoverability and sales.
- Influencer-branded storefronts, such as Nexus.gg, allow creators to monetize game recommendations by capturing a share of the traditional 30% platform fee typically retained by digital storefronts.
- Mid-sized titles on Steam during the first half of 2020 sold a median of 2,144 copies, resulting in approximately $9,586 in take-home revenue at an average price of $9.99.
- Higher-priced titles on Steam generally correlate with increased net revenue, reflecting developer confidence in the quality and complexity of premium-priced games.
Store Intelligence Data Digest: Q3 2020
Global mobile app performance in the third quarter of 2020 reflected a landscape profoundly shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, with total downloads reaching 36.4 billion.
- Global mobile app downloads reached 36.4 billion in Q3 2020, a 22.8% year-over-year increase driven primarily by a 30.3% surge in Google Play installs.
- Among Us achieved a historic milestone as the first title since 2018 to exceed 100 million global downloads in a single quarter, with 24 million of those installs occurring in the United States.
- United States consumer spending reached a record $5.8 billion in Q3 2020, with Simulation and Casino genres serving as the primary growth drivers at 59% and 51% increases, respectively.