“We canceled the sequel because we saw the opportunity to give back to the players a little bit faster than creating a new, better version,” Forest Willard, a developer at InnerSloth, which makes Among Us, told CNN Business. “It will be more work in the long run, but we’re excited for players to update the game, and suddenly there’s a brand new feature or map that unlocks new experiences.”
Among Us costs $5 on PC games store Steam or the indie store Itch.io, and it’s free with ads on mobile. Players can make additional purchases to decorate and customize their in-game characters. InnerSloth declined to comment on sales figures and total revenue.
The game requires four to 10 players, who are randomly assigned roles of either a crewmate or imposter. There are always more crew than imposters at the start. Throughout the game, crewmates try to complete their tasks and imposters try to murder the crew and sabotage the spaceship without getting caught.
Among Us involves a lot of lying, accusations and angry denials — a perfect recipe for social media engagement. YouTube’s biggest individual creator, PewDiePie, has played it, as has rapper and singer Soulja Boy.
All of the popularity begs the question, what’s next for Among Us? InnerSloth developers know they must build on their success and keep players engaged. Their decision to cut a sequel makes sense, experts say.
“At this point making a sequel would end up dividing the audience, it’s a better idea to keep engagement high on the current game and drive further monetization through in-game purchases,” Cassia Curran, an adviser at Wings Interactive, a fund that invests in diverse games.
Willard, the Innersloth developer, said the team plans to add features to Among Us including the ability to add friends, a color blind mode and a way to customize controls.
“These just make the game easier for people to enjoy time and time again,” he said.