Social deduction game Goose Goose Duck recently broke Steam records after BTS member V (real name Kim Tae-hyung) played it live on stream. The game is often compared to the highly popular Among Us because of their gameplay similarities.
Released in October 2021, Gaggle Studios' Goose Goose Duck is a game where players take on the role of geese who must work together to complete missions, and mallards who will sabotage and kill the geese. Each public or private lobby can host up to 16 players who have to do tasks or pretend to do them as mallards while trying to get away with their crimes. Just like Among Us, the geese have to use their deduction skills to find all the impostors and eliminate all of them to win, while mallards have to use deception to save themselves.
While a number of popular Twitch streamers have played Goose Goose Duck with their peers, the game only got its highest peak of 21,362 players in February 2022. However, when BTS' V started streaming it on Weverse last November, the game went from having around 6,000 peak concurrent players that month to nearly 130,000 by December. When the new year came, Gaggle Studios posted an update that Goose Goose Duck experienced a server outage because of the influx of new players, which, at the time, already reached a 250,000 increase.
According to Steam Charts, Goose Goose Duck peaked at 563,293 in the last 30 days—its all-time highest player count since coming out in 2021. Polygon noted that the game pushed past popular games on Steam, like Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
BTS is one of the biggest music groups in the world right now, with hits like "Dynamite" and "Butter" dominating the airwaves. So, it's no surprise that their massive fan base would want to try a game that V played on his streams, whether it's Goose Goose Duck, Among Us, or Fall Guys. It also helps that these games can be played with friends, which can add more fun to online social gatherings.
This isn't the first time that K-pop and gaming have converged. PUBG has collaborated with girl group Blackpink in 2021 and 2022, giving players limited-edition themed cosmetics and an in-game concert. League of Legends also famously debuted K/DA in 2018, its virtual girl group with K-pop influences, featuring the vocals of Miyeon and Soyeon from (G)I-dle. Players definitely won't see the last of K-pop's influences in the gaming space in the near future.
Goose Goose Duck is available for PC and mobile.
Source: Polygon