Phasmophobia could be Twitch’s next big breakout game

I love trying to keep tabs on potential superstar games just because it’s interesting to see how and why a cultural zeitgeist develops around them. For example, Among Us has been a monumental game this year and it seemingly happened overnight. A game that started off the year with the developers cancelling all future support after it flip-flopped pointlessly for two years suddenly became the biggest thing and I think we’re on the verge of seeing something similar happen again with Phasmophobia.

Now there are some different factors involved like the fact that Phasmophobia hasn’t been out for several years already, but the progression this little early access title is going through… I don’t know, it could be pretty big.

It’s a fairly simple premise for a game as you and a group of friends (or alone if you prefer) investigate a haunted house filled with all kinds of specters and demons. Your only weapons are some crucifixes, torches and a notebook with all the information you need on banning the various species of paranormal entities. What makes the experience unique is the voice recognition element which allows players to actually shout at and command ghosts to follow their orders, which has obviously made the game incredibly popular on Twitch.

This formula of spooky environments and a different form of interaction with the game is driving players to the experience. According to Rock, Paper, Shotgun and SteamDB, Phasmophobia was played by 26,000 players on 1 October and just six days later was up to 68,000 concurrent players. As we go deeper into the spooky season, I can only imagine that number growing even higher. The statistics are similar on Twitch as Phasmophobia currently sits at the fourth most watched game on the streaming platform, beating out massive games like Call of Duty: Warzone, Fortnite and Valorant.

All I’m saying is that clearly Phasmophobia is growing at an exceptionally high rate and maybe it’s worth taking notice of it now. While I’ve only played an hour of it on a friend’s PC, it was a genuinely fun experience that was often marred only by lack of polish often seen in early access games. Yet those are problems that can be fixed and addressed with future updates so here’s hoping Phasmophobia keeps chugging on with that consistent growth. It’s nice seeing the little guy win, right?

Last Updated: October 8, 2020