Gaming

Among Us devs share the intense pressure and serious burnout they faced after game went viral

Jun 18 2021
Written by Shakeena Johnson

(InnerSloth)

Launching in 2018, Among Us has become one of the biggest video games of all time, almost overnight, in fact.

The pressures and stress caused by that sudden success had unfortunate effects on the team, though, which they’ve detailed in a recent YouTube chat.

Revealing all to YouTuber Anthony Padilla in an interview, the developers discussed how they struggled to deal with the unprecedented success. The whodunnit-style game, which sees players attempt to determine the identity of the impostor in their midst, now has more than 60 million daily active players on iOS and Android.

Co-founder Marcus Bromander spoke about how the game’s virtual success came with more cons than pros, at least at first.

“The amount of attention we had on us, every little thing we do is gonna get looked at and criticised.”

“Among Us going viral… It just became, ok, this is my life,” Innersloth Artist Amy Liu explained. “Having gone from a smaller indie title to now having a global spotlight on the game, the pressure to get things done quickly was really high,” she added.

“September to December, we’re talking to Xbox, PlayStation. They’re trying to get Among Us on these platforms. Usually, that takes many months, half a year to a year. We were like, three months, we’re gonna try that.”

Since the game blew up during lockdown last year, some of the world’s most popular influencers and streamer including AOC and James Charles have become fans – even playing a real-life version of the game together. Earlier this year, YouTuber Stan – also known as worldofxtra – tried to use Among Us to find a boyfriend in a hilarious video.

Earlier this week, Innersloth announced the 15 player lobby update for Among Us, which saw an all-new kill menu, colours, and updated art style. The update is now available on PC, mobile and Nintendo Switch, as seen on the Xbox E3 Showcase. The game will be coming to Xbox consoles later this year.