Summary

  • Among Us is breaking the trend of major online games doing tie-ins with other big titles and media properties, instead opting to collaborate with popular indie games.
  • The collaboration is significant because Among Us is using its popularity to raise up other indie games and shine a light on less recognizable titles.
  • Among Us is offering the cosmetic pack for in-game currency, which makes it a better deal compared to other games that charge real-world money for similar items.

I don’t know about you, but the fact that every major online game eventually gets to the point where they’re doing major tie-ins and crossovers with other big titles and media properties bums me out. Most recently, it was Destiny 2 adding Witcher 3-inspired armor and emotes to its digital store, but it happens constantly – Fortnite, Apex Legends, Overwatch 2… it happens over and over, these big corporations making money off the brief novelty of their mixing and matching. Do they ever have any relevance to each other? Not really, but they look cool, I guess. It’s really just pandering to consumers, but I’m sure companies will argue that they’re just giving players what they want, which is apparently overpriced skins.

It’s a worrying trend that doesn’t seem to be slowing down, but reading the news of the latest Among Us crossovers didn’t upset me, it made me happy. Stop yelling “hypocrite” at me, you weasels, hear me out. Among Us has announced that it’s bringing together a whole bunch of popular indie games into a giant cosmetic bundle that you can buy in-game until February 2024, including iconic classics like Undertale, Untitled Goose Game, and Celeste.

Three years after blowing up, Among Us still averages more than 4000 players a day.

It is extremely cool that of all the potential tie-ins it could have done, it picked indie games. Among Us is undoubtedly one of the biggest indie games of the last few years, having picked up steam in 2020 due to Twitch streamers playing it during the pandemic. It was developed by a small studio, Innersloth, and launched in 2018. Among Us is significantly more popular than any of the games it’s platforming with its crossover, which is a big deal – it’s using that popularity to raise up other indies.

And not all those indies are as recognisable as the ones I named earlier: the seven games that inspired the new outfits are the three above, but also Crypt of the NecroDancer, Castle Crashers, Alien Hominid, and A Hat in Time. Players are much less likely to have played those games, which means Among Us shining a light on them can have a real impact. Innersloth itself said, “They’re indie. We’re indie. It’s like that Spider-Man meme, but instead of pointing, we’re crying because we love each others’ work so much.”

Even better, it’s not necessarily charging real-world money for these skins. You can purchase the cosmetic pack with 7,000 beans, which is an in-game currency you can earn without shelling out actual dollars. Buying the pack and playing matches with it equipped will unlock the outfits and items in the pack, which includes a total of 25 hats, 18 skins, 12 nameplates, 9 visors, and 6 pets. Compare this with Destiny 2’s typical price of $20 for an armor set, and it seems like a better deal in every possible way. All you have to do is play.

I still think it’s dire that every big game seems to fall prey to the allure of that sweet crossover money, but in this case, Among Us is using its power for good instead of evil (read: charging inexcusably high prices for cosmetic items). You love to see it, really. I wish more collaborations were this thoughtful, but realistically, they won’t be – it’s almost always about the money. I’m choosing to take Among Us’ choice as a bright spot instead of hoping it’ll become the norm, because I’m bound to be disappointed.

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