Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, seemingly small indie games that have a focus on community engagement and social interaction have exploded in popularity. The latest example of this trend is the ghost-hunting simulatorPhasmophobia, which dominated sales charts throughout Octoberand has continued its reign overSteam’s online storefront, according to a recent report.
Phasmophobiahas now been number one on Steam’s Top Sellers list, based on the revenue it has generated, for three weeks in a row including the week ending today, November 1. This statistic comes from industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, who posted the top-ten list to Twitter earlier. The list shows Kinetic Games’Phasmophobiaand InnerSloth’s social deduction gameAmong Usbeating out AAA blockbusters including pre-orders forCD Projekt Red’s delayedCyberpunk 2077and Obsidian Entertainment’sThe Outer Worlds.
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Ahmad further points out that Supergiant Games' roguelikeHadeshas jumped from ninth to sixth place since last week, while Tuxedo Labs’TeardownandOne More Level’sGhostrunnerdebuted in the top ten. While these are not social experiences in the same way asAmong UsorFall Guys- which is noticeable absent after being a “mainstay in the chart for a while,” they do show a trend toward titles by comparatively smaller developers.
That being said, a lot of this could have to do with the relative drought of AAA experiences leading up to the release of Sony and Microsoft’s next-generation consoles later this month. Disregarding console exclusives, games like Bungie’sDestiny 2will cross over with PC, and could skew Steam sales significantly for November consideringpre-orders on theDestiny 2: Beyond Lightexpansionhit number 9 on Ahmad’s list.
Other games may also break ground on Steam’s sales chart this month. For example, Respawn Entertainment’s popular battle royaleApex Legendswill release on Steam November 4, though it has already been available on PC through the Origin storefront. It’s hard to say whether a title such as this could stop the juggernauts that arePhasmophobiaandAmong Us, but time will tell.
No matter how Steam numbers shake out in November, the mark that has been left by games likeAmong UsandFall Guysis hard to ignore, and will likely influence game developers going forward.Phasmophobiaalso has new updatescoming out that should keep the experience fresh for average players and streamers, so it seems fair to assume thatSteamwill continue to see the fruits of its offerings.
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