Among Us, Six Years After the Summer It Took Over the World

In the summer of 2018, a tiny studio released a game about spaceship crewmates and the impostor hiding among them. It barely made a ripple. Two years later, in the strange, housebound autumn of 2020, Among Us was everywhere: on phones, on streams, in classrooms and even in the United States Congress.

Among Us is made by Innersloth, co-founded by Marcus Bromander. It launched on Android and iOS on 15 June 2018 and on Steam on 16 November 2018. In 2026, the crewmates are still busy: an animated series arrived on Paramount+ on 5 June 2026, a new single-player spin-off was announced at Summer Game Fest 2026, and the game added a new Judge role in August 2026.

The impostor formula

The rules are simple. A group of friends play crewmates on a spaceship, completing small tasks. One or more of them are secretly impostors, who sabotage the ship and eliminate crewmates. When a body is found, everyone meets to discuss, accuse and vote someone off.

It is a social deduction game, a digital cousin of party games like Mafia or Werewolf, and its magic is in the conversations. The best moments are not the tasks; they are the frantic, funny, often unfair debates about who was where.

The autumn of 2020

Among Us was rediscovered in July 2020, when Twitch streamer Sodapoppin started playing it. What followed was one of the fastest rises in gaming history. Concurrent players reached 1.5 million in September and peaked at 3.8 million in late September 2020. The game passed 100 million downloads that month.

Estimates from the research firm SuperData put the total player count at around 500 million by November 2020. Most of them were on phones: mobile accounted for 97% of players, while PC players were just 3% of the audience but generated 64% of gross revenue.

The videos were just as huge. YouTube reported 4 billion views of Among Us videos in September 2020, and TikTok videos had more than 13 billion views in October 2020.

Awards, consoles and VR

The wave carried Among Us to The Game Awards 2020, where it won Best Mobile Game and Best Multiplayer Game. It also took the Breakthrough Award at the Golden Joysticks, Favourite Video Game at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 2021 and Breakout of the Year at the 2021 Webby Awards.

It came to Nintendo Switch in December 2020, selling 3.2 million digital units that month, and to PlayStation and Xbox in December 2021. Among Us VR, made with Schell Games and Robot Teddy, launched in November 2022; it was renamed Among Us 3D in 2025, when a non-VR version arrived on Steam on 6 May 2025.

Paying it forward, and what's next

Innersloth used its Among Us success to create Outersloth, a publishing label that funds other indie developers, revealed at Summer Game Fest 2024. It is one of the clearest examples of an indie hit reinvesting in the scene that produced it.

The animated series, announced by CBS Studios in June 2023 and created by Owen Dennis, features voices including Randall Park, Elijah Wood, Dan Stevens and Wayne Knight. It arrived quietly on Paramount+ in June 2026.

And there is a new game coming. Among Us Story: On Guard is a single-player murder-mystery spin-off announced at Summer Game Fest 2026. A demo ran from 15 to 22 June during Steam Next Fest. It is planned for PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, with no release date yet.

Why it matters

WGC's take: Among Us is the clearest proof that an indie game does not have to succeed at launch. It took two years, a pandemic and a streamer to find its audience, and when it did, it became a global language. Its afterlife matters just as much. Updates, new roles, a TV show, a spin-off and a fund for other developers show a small studio turning a moment into a lasting legacy.

Among Us costs $4.99 on Steam and is available on iOS, Android, Switch, PlayStation and Xbox. For other co-op party games built on talking, read about Lethal Company (here) and Phasmophobia (here).