If you were to name the most popular Steam games right now, what would you go for? Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is always a solid bet, and games like Dota 2 and PUBG are usually up there as well. Now, however, it looks like there's a new star in town, and its name is Goose Goose Duck. Yes, really.
Social deduction games skyrocketed in popularity during the early COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, with games like Among Us still being played today (and in VR, no less). Goose Goose Duck, created by the appropriately-named Gaggle Games, is one of the titles taking advantage of that boom, and it's sitting at just under 400,000 players on Steam at the time of writing, with a peak just over 400k.
Yes, you read that right: just under 400,000 players. If the game has passed you by, you're not alone; its popularity has mainly exploded in Asia, it seems, and Korea in particular, although Goose Goose Duck's widespread appeal is far from limited to those regions. Still, the game's booth at the recent Korean G-Star trade show was heaving, according to an interview with Gaggle's Shawn Fischtein, so Korea is a big market for it. Of the over 18k Steam reviews right now, only 5k of them are in English.
In that interview, Fischtein says his team came up with the idea for Goose Goose Duck when they realized that Among Us was "missing parts" that would make it better. These parts, according to Fischtein, involve "a lot more chaos and a lot more variability". Goose Goose Duck, says Fischtein, has "a higher skill ceiling" than Among Us, as well as extra mechanics like environmental kills and voice chat as an integral part of the game.
Of course, Goose Goose Duck has plenty of future plans as well. The game just got a new map earlier this month, as well as an arcade for the lounge area. Fischtein is also planning to incorporate Web3 and blockchain elements into Goose Goose Duck, because apparently, nothing is sacred. He's making all the usual noises about making blockchain gaming fun first and foremost, but it remains to be seen whether those plans will translate well into reality.
Goose Goose Duck's popularity is pretty remarkable, especially when considering that Among Us, its direct inspiration, has an all-time Steam user peak of around 447,000. Goose Goose Duck hasn't broken that record yet, but it's pulling 400,000 players per day, so it might not be too long until it names Among Us the imposter and throws it out of the airlock. Stay tuned for more on this.
