Crab Game
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''Crab Game'' is a
free-to-play "Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...
video game developed and published by Norwegian
indie developer An indie video game or indie game (short for independent video game) is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A ...
Daniel Sooman, also known as Dani. The game was initially released for
Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
and
macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
on
Itch.io Itch.io (stylized in all lowercase) is a website for users to host, sell and download indie video games, indie role-playing games, game assets, comics, zines and music. Launched in March 2013 by Leaf Corcoran, the service hosts over 1,000,000 ...
and for
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
on
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
on 29 October 2021; the Linux and macOS editions were later released on Steam on 16 November. Based on the
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
series ''
Squid Game ''Squid Game'' () is a South Korean Utopian and dystopian fiction, dystopian Survival film, survival Thriller (genre)#Television, thriller horror television series created, written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk for Netflix. The series revol ...
'', players compete with each other in
minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements and is often smaller or more simplistic than th ...
s in order to be the last one alive.


Gameplay

''Crab Game'' is a competitive
online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...
first, and third person
party game Party games are games that are played at social gatherings to facilitate interaction and provide entertainment and recreation. Categories include (explicit) icebreaker, parlour (indoor), picnic (outdoor), and large group games.Frankel, Lillia ...
where players compete in various
minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements and is often smaller or more simplistic than th ...
s based around childhood games. The player must avoid dying and be the last one remaining in order to win a cash prize; however, the game ends if there is nobody left. Players can attack others with various items, compete in various maps and
game mode In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics define how a game works for players. Game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide player actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, wh ...
s and communicate with each other through proximity chat. Players can also create servers with up to 40 players or join existing ones. While the game initially featured primarily ''
Squid Game ''Squid Game'' () is a South Korean Utopian and dystopian fiction, dystopian Survival film, survival Thriller (genre)#Television, thriller horror television series created, written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk for Netflix. The series revol ...
''-inspired minigames, also featuring re-skinned, and additional maps. A series of content updates have expanded the game to have a variety of game modes and maps unique to ''Crab Game'', with no discernible connection to the series.


Developer

Daniel William Sooman (born 15 June 1997), known online as Dani, is a comedic Norwegian
YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...
and an
indie game developer An indie video game or indie game (short for independent video game) is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A ...
. He is the developer of Crab Game. He also developed the open world game ''Muck'' and is yet to release the game Karlson 3D.


Career

Dani started making programming and indie game development videos in 2018. In late 2019, Sooman started the development of ''Karlson 3D'' prompted by commenters challenging him to do so. Dani went on to create development log videos for ''Karlson 3D'' like the ones that gained him his initial following on YouTube. In late 2020, during the surge in popularity of the games ''
Fall Guys ''Fall Guys'' (formerly known as ''Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout'' is a free-to-play Platform game, platform battle royale game developed by Mediatonic and originally published by Devolver Digital for the PlayStation 4 and Windows. It was acqu ...
'' and ''
Among Us ''Among Us'' is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game developed and published by American game studio Innersloth. The game allows for cross-platform play; it was released on iOS and Android (operating system), Android devices in J ...
'', Sooman challenged himself to recreate the viral games within the span of one week. The games were not released to the general public, but were made available to Twitch streamers and YouTubers. Following the release of his video on the recreation of ''Among Us'' in 3D, he appeared playing this game along with many other famous YouTubers like
MrBeast James Stephen "Jimmy" Donaldson (born May 7, 1998), commonly known by his online alias MrBeast, is an American YouTuber, media personality, and businessman. His YouTube videos, where he often hosts elaborate challenges and philanthropic effor ...
,
Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...
and Jacksepticeye. In June 2021, in response to a YouTube comment that claimed, in a similar way to the comment that started ''Karlson'', that he was unable to make a
survival Survival or survivorship, the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things ...
and
open world In video games, an open world is a virtual world in which the Gamer, player can approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay. Notable games in this category include ''The Legend of Zelda (video game ...
game, Sooman decided to create a
Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...
-styled, simplistic open world game titled ''
Muck Muck most often refers to: *Muck (soil), a soil made up primarily of humus from drained swampland Muck may also refer to: Places Europe * Muck, Scotland, an island * Isle of Muck, County Antrim, a small island connected by sand spit to Portmuck ...
''. The game was released on video game platform
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
. In October 2021, Sooman released ''Crab Game''. In April 2022, Sooman released a video on his second YouTube channel, Dani2, where he talks about how the growing pressure and expectations for Karlson has caused him to be overwhelmed about the continuing the games development, though he reassured his audience that he would finish Karlson some day.


Development and release

''Crab Game'' was initially created in response to ''Squid Game'' popularity and was named as such to avoid a
cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...
letter from
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
. Developed in around two weeks, ''Crab Game'' was released on
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
for
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
on 29 October 2021. The game was released on
Itch.io Itch.io (stylized in all lowercase) is a website for users to host, sell and download indie video games, indie role-playing games, game assets, comics, zines and music. Launched in March 2013 by Leaf Corcoran, the service hosts over 1,000,000 ...
for
macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
and
Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
as Dani was unsure of their stability due to not being able to
test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...
them; said versions were later released on Steam on 16 November. Since its release, ''Crab Game'' has been receiving content updates consisting of new maps, more games, and better optimization for both slower computers and internet speeds. The game hasn't gotten an update since December 2021


DDoS attacks

On 2 November 2021,
xQc Félix Lengyel (; born November 12, 1995), better known as xQc (formerly xQcOW), is a Canadian online streamer, influencer, and former professional ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' player. While he is best known for his streaming career ...
, a
Twitch streamer An online streamer or live streamer is a type of social media influencer who broadcasts themselves online through a live stream to an audience. History Streaming arose in the early 2010s, originating on sites like YouTube where users could uplo ...
, experienced a
DDoS attack In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyberattack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host conne ...
while playing ''Crab Game'', causing him to lose his internet connection. Other Twitch streamers also experienced DDoS attacks, such as
Sodapoppin Thomas Chance Morris (born February 15, 1994), known professionally as Sodapoppin, is an American Twitch streamer and YouTuber. He has one of the largest followings on Twitch, with over 8.9 million followers as of November 26, 2024; he also has ...
and Nick Polom. Developer Dani confirmed the issues were caused by the old Steam networking code the game was using, which made the
IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. IP addresses serve two main functions: network interface i ...
es of players public; he urged players to not join any public lobbies to prevent any further DDoS attacks. The issue has since been fixed.


Reception

''Crab Game'' was well-received upon its initial release, reaching an all-time peak of 283,315 players on Steam and over 211,000 viewers on
Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle c ...
. The game also quickly gained exposure on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. In early 2023, the game experienced another peak in players after a group of
VTubers A or is an online entertainer who uses a virtual avatar generated using computer graphics. Real-time motion capture software or technology are often—but not always—used to capture movement. The digital trend originated in Japan in the mid-2 ...
played the game in a collaboration, reaching up to around 42,000 concurrent players. The game was nominated for the "Better With Friends" category of the 2021
Steam Awards The Steam Awards are an annual user-voted award event for video games published on Valve's Steam service. Introduced in 2016, game nomination and voting periods are concurrent with Steam's annual autumn and winter holiday sales, centered around t ...
, but lost to '' It Takes Two''.


References

{{Squid Game 2021 video games Video games developed in Norway Windows games Free-to-play video games Indie games Multiplayer online games MacOS games First-person video games Linux games Works based on Squid Game Party video games Video games based on television series Video games about crabs Battle royale games