InnerSloth - the studio behind 2020's social deduction hit, Among Us - has once more added a new team member, growing its size to nine people. As a sign of how small the company remains, InnerSloth notes that it still can't max out the game's 10-person lobby, much less the 15-person cap coming later this year.
Among Us premiered in June 2018 as a mobile-only title for iOS and Android, only reaching PCs in November the same year. The title's sudden success in 2020 - fueled by Twitch and YouTube streamers, looking to fill hours during the pandemic lockdown - resulted in a Nintendo Switch port last December, as well as plans for Xbox and PlayStation editions later in 2021. Updates have been relatively slow in coming because until recently InnerSloth's core team was just five people, with occasional help from outside partners.
The new hire, identified only by the alias "blaustoise," will work as a game strategist and help in "navigating the beans through space," according to InnerSloth's Twitter feed. His background includes development work with Riot Games and Sony, as well as streaming on Twitch. Aside from Among Us, his videos have covered games like Grand Theft Auto 5, Valorant, and PUBG. Few other biographical details are available - most of the InnerSloth team is anonymous on LinkedIn, probably to avoid harassment by players, recruiters, and marketers.
InnerSloth has previously said that it's prioritizing quality over speed in new hires. While that's made it harder to capitalize on Among Us' success - the last major content release was March's Airship update - the studio is worried that rushed hires could backfire. It could potentially take too much time to train an underqualified person, and even an expert veteran might not gel with the rest of the company or produce what its founders are looking for. Beyond a bigger lobby cap, other changes planned for this year include more crewmate colors, new meeting screens, and a refined art style.
The Among Us team's size pales next to large AAA rivals like Epic, Ubisoft, and Naughty Dog, which typically have hundreds or even thousands of people, sometimes developing multiple games simultaneously. These companies' scale is such that teams can be assigned projects like remasters just to keep them employed and productive. In some instances, this scale has backfired - while teams like InnerSloth are used to operating remotely, for example, major studios have had a difficult time transitioning during the COVID-19 pandemic, and might not resume full speed until 2022. Among Us, meanwhile, persists at its own speed with the team size that works best for it. Time will tell if the team ever gets big enough to max out the lobby of its own game.
Source: InnerSloth/Twitter