Artsy hide-and-seek indie game Meccha Chameleon has put aside its camouflage and taken the spotlight, passing 7m copies sold since its release less than two weeks ago.
It’s a game in which players must use paint tools to disguise themselves in the environment while others attempt to track them down, and it’s proven a dominating presence in the social games space. Its popularity has largely been down to word-of-mouth, as well as the embrace of large swathes of the gaming influencer sphere.
To celebrate this milestone, the solo developer behind Meccha Chameleon, Lemorion, succinctly announced that a Japan-themed map will be added “today or tomorrow”.
Meccha Chameleon is the latest in a string of especially popular social games, following the path REPO, Lethal Company, and Among Us. Like those games before it, Meccha Chameleon is being sold for a relatively low price compared to many of the triple-A offerings released recently. It’s currently available for £5.29, a fraction of the cost of the 007 First Light for example, which retails for £59.99.
As video game prices soar, we’ve seen the prominence of cheaper alternatives grow. While many believed (and still believe) subscription services like Xbox Game Pass is a solution, this raises concerns around the ownership of games acquired with these services. Cheaper, social, indie games like Meccha Chameleon are a popular alternative to that. They’re much more available to a wider number of people, that’s especially important as gaming hardware gets more expensive too.
