Among Us was made starting in late 2017 and first released on June 15 2018 for mobile devices. It took the three-person development team at Innersloth about seven months to develop the game from scratch, and it was released quietly with very few players. It was only two years later that the world got to know it, when it suddenly became a worldwide phenomenon in 2020.
This is the full story of the making of Among Us, from start to finish. You’ll see the early development period, the long quiet period that followed, and the exact time when every major platform got the game. It’s a lot more interesting to know when it was created and when it became popular.
Was Among Us Released?
The first public release of Among Us was on June 15 2018 for both iOS and Android. The game was free to play at launch, with ads, and only offered local multiplayer. Friends needed to be in the same room and connected to the same wi-fi network. Online numbers remained very low for months, and at times there were only a few dozen players online at any given time.
The PC version was released on November 16 2018 via Steam. This update introduced the correct online multiplayer feature, which was a feature early fans had been asking for for a long time. Even with the PC release the game still flew under the radar. It had a small but loyal fan base, but failed to make a splash in the mainstream during those first two years.
The original version also seemed so easy to use because of the short development period of seven months. At launch there was only one map and many features that players take for granted today were added much later. The team concentrated on making the core social deduction loop work and then they would build on that.
The Two Year Gap Nobody Talks About
Following the 2018 release, Among Us was virtually ignored for almost two years. The number of players was still very small and the income was not sufficient to keep going. During that quiet time, the small team seriously thought about giving up on the project more than once.
It all turned upside down in the middle of 2020. The game was released for live play by popular Twitch streamers and their viewers instantly loved the chaos. Gag-worthy accusations and hilarious impostor plays go viral on YouTube and TikTok. Meanwhile, the COVID pandemic had left millions of people confined to their homes looking for simple social activities they could do online with friends.
The same game that no one knew about in 2018 suddenly took off. Simple rules and perfect timing made it a worldwide craze when it was made available for free on mobile devices. It was never a new release that caused the boom. It was just the right game at the right time. The two-year period from the moment the game was launched quietly to the time it became a huge success is one of the most surprising success stories in recent gaming history.
Every Platform Release Date
These are the dates for the release of Among Us on each major platform:
- Mobile iOS and Android: June 15 2018
- PC Steam: November 16 2018
- Nintendo Switch: December 15 2020
- The PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Xbox One and Xbox Series X S will be released on December 14 2021.
- Among Us VR later released Among Us 3D: November 10 2022 for Quest and SteamVR, followed by a release for PlayStation VR2 later.
All these versions are crossplay enabled, meaning that players on different devices can still be in the same lobbies.
Who Made Among Us?
Developed by Innersloth, a small independent studio that was founded in 2015 by three friends at Oregon State University. Marcus Bromander Forest Willard and Amy Liu were the original team. They did their own art programming and design, with little outside assistance.
Their other games prior to Among Us were small games such as Dig 2 China and portions of the Henry Stickmin series. Among Us is inspired by the party game Mafia and the movie The Thing. The small team size was one of the reasons that the game was a surprise success when it finally took off.
Is Among Us Still in the Updating Process?
Yes, the game is still maintained years later. Innersloth keeps on releasing new map roles, cosmetics and quality of life improvements. New content continues to be released regularly, and the player base is still strong, although not as large as it was in 2020.
The game never went away as a lost trend of 2020. It became a regular long term multiplayer game that friends still play in for short periods.
FAQS
Is Among Us older than people think?
Yes many players assume it came out in 2020 because that is when they first heard of it. The game had already been available for two full years by then.
Why did it take two years to get popular?
It launched without big marketing and stayed small until streamers and the pandemic created the perfect conditions for it to spread.
Is a sequel planned?
A sequel was announced in 2020 and then cancelled a few weeks later. The team decided to keep improving the original game instead and that choice has kept it alive.
