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Among Us Has Been Downloaded More Than 217 Million Times On Mobile
The mobile version of the hit game Among Us has officially been downloaded over 217 million times. Though the game is two years old, its popularity did not take off until 2020 and the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic that came along with it.
The COVID-19 pandemic has largely been attributed to giving Among Us its current success. With many stuck in their homes due to quarantines, Among Us has provided a method for people who aren't typical gamers to fulfill their social interaction needs in these difficult times. It is similar in execution to the tabletop game Werewolf and has managed to transfer many of the successful social aspects of tabletop gaming to the video game medium. The mobile version of Among Us, which is free, has also been easy on consumer wallets during a time where money can be tight.
Sensor Tower reported the massive download numbers for the mobile version of Among Us along with some other information marking the game's success. In October alone, the mobile version of the game was downloaded over 75 million times. The mobile version of Among Us has also generated over $39 million in revenue despite being free to play. This was largely thanks to player cosmetic purchases over the game's two year run. Among Us has become so successful that indie developer InnerSloth canceled work on a potential sequel in order to maintain and expand its massive hit.
The COVID-19 pandemic alone was not enough to catapult Among Us to its current success. The game found a following on Twitch and it recently reached massive levels of exposure thanks to one particular stream. United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez played Among Us on Twitch as a way to urge Americans to vote in the 2020 elections and it became one of the largest streams in the site's history. This no doubt broadened the game's already wide publicity that it had built up during the rest of the pandemic.
The circumstances that have surrounded Among Us' rise have felt truly unique. There have been games in recent memory, like Fortnite, that have gone from obscurity to ruling the world seemingly overnight. Among Us, however, reached its current level of popularity not because it was groundbreaking, but because of what it provided during unprecedented worldwide circumstances. It gave people a way to connect in ways that they physically could not. It became more than a game and turned into a medium of social interaction in a way no other video game has ever come close to doing. With the newest console generation just about to launch, the impact of the Among Us shows what can be made even without cutting edge technology or a massive AAA budget.
Among Us is currently available on PC and mobile devices.
