InnerSloth’s popular social deduction game Among Us was hit with a DDoS attack on Thursday, bringing servers offline all weekend. Nearly two years after its initial launch, Among Us found massive success during the pandemic, enlisting millions of players to uncover the sinister imposter. Though hype for the game has since died down, Among Us still sees impressive player counts. That said, Among Us servers are no stranger to downtime, with multiple instances of intermittent server outages and crashes keeping people from completing their tasks.
Among Us received a major content update at the end of last year which completely revamped InnerSloth’s multiplayer game. The Cosmicube update introduced new cosmetics, roles, and a progression system, adding a whole slew of new ways to enjoy the game. It was also announced that a VR version of Among Us is in the works. Though the VR version has no release date, it was confirmed it would arrive on PSVR and Meta Quest sometime in the near future. Since the pandemic-driven hype for the game began tapering off, it was suggested that Among Us’ Cosmicube update and VR announcement were instrumental in revitalizing interest in the game.
According to the official Among Us Twitter account (via Eurogamer), the game’s servers are down thanks to a DDoS attack. The Among Us server outage began late Thursday, March 24, at the end of the workday, with the game’s Twitter account announcing that both NA and EU servers were getting DDoS’d. At that time, the team confirmed it was working to resolve the issue, but as of Sunday, the servers were still down. In an early tweet, the Among Us team claimed the game was sabotaged, with the developers complaining about the inconvenient timing of the attack. The team was still working to resolve the issue on Saturday, and by Sunday the Twitter account was void of any official announcement.
A DDoS or denial-of-service attack, is a cyber-attack that targets software or online services, making them unavailable to users. Multiplayer games are often victims of DDoS attacks, in which perpetrators will employ them on opposing teams, forcing a disconnect for an easy victory. Larger DDoS attacks can cause massive lag spikes or disrupt services entirely. Depending on the severity of the DDoS attack, the interruption can last minutes, hours, or even days. Last July, Ubisoft won a $150,000 lawsuit against perpetrators of DDoS attacks against Rainbow Six Siege. The gaming company filed a formal complaint against operators of the SNG.one website, accusing the culprits of providing software and services that aid people in performing DDoS attacks.
DDoS’ing is a big problem, especially for the multiplayer gaming industry. While small DDoS attacks are common among games like CS:GO or Valorant, larger attacks have caused catastrophic problems. World of Warcraft Classic suffered a DDoS attack during the launch of its Burning Crusade expansion, and a DDoS attack against EVE Online left some players unable to defend their territories from invaders. Hopefully, the Among Us developers can find a solution for its server outages soon. Since the attack occurred over the weekend, it likely disrupted many players’ plans of jumping into a match to catch an Impostor.
Source: Among Us/Twitter (via Eurogamer)