You probably think you know when the bean-shaped chaos started. Most people point to 2020. It makes sense, right? We were all stuck inside, staring at our screens, and suddenly everyone was screaming about who was "sus" in MedBay. But if you’re looking for the actual Among Us release date, you have to go back way further than the pandemic.
The truth is much lonelier.
When the game first hit the digital shelves, nobody cared. Seriously. It was a ghost town. The developers at Innersloth—a tiny team that was basically just three people at the time—released their social deduction experiment to a world that didn't even blink.
The Day the Space Mafia Landed
So, let's nail down the timeline. The original Among Us release date was June 15, 2018.
It launched on Android and iOS first. Back then, it wasn't even called "Among Us" in the internal files; the AppID was literally "spacemafia." It was a simple, local-multiplayer-focused game inspired by the party game Mafia (or Werewolf).
- Mobile (iOS/Android): June 15, 2018
- PC (Steam): November 16, 2018
- The "Dark Ages": 2018–2019
During those first few months, the player count was abysmal. We're talking 30 to 50 concurrent players. Total.
Marcus Bromander, one of the co-founders, later admitted they were "really bad at marketing." They just put it out there and hoped for the best. It didn't happen. Not yet. The team actually considered calling it quits on the game multiple times to move on to something that might actually pay the bills.
Why the PC Launch Didn't Change Everything
When the game finally moved to Steam in November 2018, it still didn't explode. It cost five bucks. On mobile, it was free with ads. Even with the jump to PC, the servers weren't exactly sweating. It stayed a niche title for a very long time, supported by a small but dedicated community in places like Brazil and South Korea.
🔗 Read more: Naughty Dog upcoming games: What's actually happening at the studio right now
The 2020 Surge: Not a Launch, but a Resurrection
If the Among Us release date was in 2018, why does everyone associate it with 2020?
Luck. Pure, chaotic, digital luck.
In July 2020, a Twitch employee recommended the game to a streamer named Sodapoppin. He played it for his massive audience. Then xQc played it. Then basically every human with a webcam and a Discord account played it.
By September 2020, the game had 60 million daily active players. Think about that jump. From 50 people to 60,000,000. The servers, which were designed for a tiny indie project, absolutely melted. The team had to cancel a planned sequel—Among Us 2—just to focus on fixing the original game because the demand was so high.
The Console Expansion
Once the world went mad for the Skeld map, Innersloth had to move fast. They started porting the game to everything with a CPU.
- Nintendo Switch: December 15, 2020. This was a huge moment because it proved the game worked on controllers, not just touchscreens or mice.
- PlayStation 4 & 5: December 14, 2021.
- Xbox One & Series X/S: December 14, 2021.
Honestly, waiting until the end of 2021 for the PlayStation and Xbox versions felt like forever in internet years, but the game still managed to dominate the charts when it arrived.
What Really Happened with the "Success"?
It’s easy to look back and say it was "inevitable." It wasn't.
Innersloth was a team of three: Forest Willard, Marcus Bromander, and Amy Liu. They weren't a massive studio with a marketing budget. They were just people making a game they liked. When the game blew up two years after the Among Us release date, they were still working out of their homes.
One thing people forget is the "Henry Stickmin" connection. Innersloth also made the Henry Stickmin Collection. When they released that on Steam in August 2020, it had a bunch of Among Us easter eggs. That cross-promotion helped fuel the fire right as the Twitch surge was happening.
"We stayed with the game way longer than we should have from a pure business standpoint." — Forest Willard.
That persistence is the only reason the game existed when the world finally decided to play it. If they had followed the "standard" indie path of abandoning a "failed" game after six months, Among Us would have been deleted from the app stores before the pandemic ever hit.
Still Sus? Where the Game Is Now
It’s 2026. The hype has leveled off, but the game hasn't died. Far from it.
The developers have grown the team significantly—though they still maintain that "small indie" vibe compared to giants like EA or Activision. They've added the Airship map, the Fungle, and roles like the Scientist and Shapeshifter.
The original Among Us release date of June 2018 remains a testament to the "slow burn" success story. Most games get one shot at a launch. This one had two.
Actionable Insights for Players and Devs
If you're still playing, or thinking about jumping back in, here is the current state of play:
- Cross-play is total: You can play on your phone against someone on a PS5. Use this to fill lobbies with friends who don't usually game.
- Check the roles: If you haven't played since 2020, the new roles (Tracker, Noisemaker) completely change the "he said, she said" meta.
- Indie Lessons: For creators, the Among Us story is the ultimate proof that "release date" doesn't define "success date."
The game is currently available on almost every platform for under $5 (or free on mobile). If you want to see how a two-year-old "failure" became the biggest game in the world, just look at the calendar. June 15, 2018. That's where the legend actually started.
Keep an eye on the official Innersloth dev logs. They've moved away from the "sequel" idea entirely, choosing instead to keep the original 2018 client updated with new maps and collaboration skins. It’s a rare case of a game becoming a platform unto itself.
Go finish your tasks. Don't get vented.