However, just saying it came out during the perfect window is ignoring the changes Nintendo made to the series that helped build its fame: the presence of the share button on the Switch made it easier for players to take screenshots and post them on the networks social media and a more streamlined friend code system made it easier to visit friends and strangers.
New Horizons it would still have sold well even without a pandemic, but these new features have given it more visibility and made it easier for Animal Crossing’s faithful to spread the word. And they did, with the game ubiquitous on social media for its first month or so, inspiring countless parodies, brand advertising and eventually a talk show with celebrities like Sting, Elijah Wood and T-Pain.
Another title that caught the attention of celebrities this year was the 2018 title from Innersloth, Among us. The two-year game exploded over the summer for a number of reasons – one of which was its superficial resemblance to another popular title, Autumn staff. But it was also cheap to play, $ 5 (or less) for the PC version and free on mobile, and it was super easy to set up games with friends or strangers.
The relatively simple game has made it a favorite of casual players, as it’s basically just point and click, with the hardest part being the mind games you play on your teammates. I met some people who don’t even care about the bigger goal of trying to uncover the impostor; they simply enjoy being in space, doing their jobs and watching how the drama unfolds. It’s a fun game to watch – as evidenced by the 430,000 people who saw representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar clashing against several prominent streamers on Twitch in October.
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout it was also one of those titles where players didn’t care much about winning, although in this case it was because the game was super difficult to win. Players were pitted against 59 other competitors in a series of physical game challenges that were often ridiculous and extremely unpredictable – many hardcore players found the title’s fickle controls an obstacle, but many more simply got lost in the madness. The ability to get back into the game quickly after the defeat made each defeat less of a tragedy and, thanks to the spectator mode, it was just another one of those games where it was fun just hanging around to see how things ended.
The social aspect of the games has definitely moved to the forefront this year. Streaming has been a big part of the medium in recent years, with people feeling affinity for their favorite players and forming communities on YouTube, Twitch and Discord. But great multiplayer games also played their part, and many casual players turned to them not as a way to have fun with the game itself, but as a place where they could play with their friends.
Both Minecraft and Fifteen days served as great meeting points in the past, but 2020 saw a huge increase Roblox players, an online platform where children can create their own spaces – and their own games – to play. The biggest draw was that the download was free, which meant that any child with a device could get in, and the parents were only happy to let them do it, as it was less violent than Fifteen days and encouraged their children’s creativity. The game gained enough prestige this year that Lil Nas X even held a virtual show there last month, debuting his new single “Holiday”.
For adults, socializing in 2020 meant many virtual happy hours, which quickly got tired. To try to give these events a little more structure, many people have invested in one or more of the Jackbox party packages. Each package contains a series of games, such as curiosities and drawing activities, that can be streamed in a Zoom stream. Unlike many other titles, players did not need to have the game itself or even a console: players participated via their phones, entering the unique four-character code for the session into a web browser. Jackbox even has a spectator mode, allowing people to vote in some rounds, even if they don’t want to be a complete player – the best in casual games.