I’m curious about InZOI, Krafton’s hyper-realistic Sims rival. As someone who grew up playing The Sims: Bustin’ Out on repeat, then obsessing over cute animals when The Sims 2’s pets DLC released, it’s a huge part of my childhood that, in many ways, has been confined to the annals of my history. InZOI, however, breathes new life into the genre, especially given the fact that Project Rene remains shrouded in mystery. Krafton’s competitor has piqued the interest of a lot more players than me, however, as it sets a new record for the PUBG publisher and continues to dominate on Steam.
Immediately topping The Sims 4 on launch day, InZOI has cemented itself as the life game‘s first real competitor in decades. First came Life By You, which was snuffed out before it released, then there’s Paralives, which is set to release later this year but hasn’t attracted the same level of chatter as InZOI.
Krafton’s latest will be hard to topple, too, having peaked at 87,377 concurrent players on day one, then steadying out at around 25k. It’s sixth on Steam’s official top sellers list, beaten out by staples CS2 and the Steam Deck, then indie game hits Schedule 1 and REPO, and, as of yesterday, The Last of Us Part 2. With over 13,000 positive reviews and an 83% average score, I’d say that’s a pretty successful launch.
To top it all off, Krafton confirms that InZOI has sold over one million copies in its launch week alone, making it the company’s fastest-selling game. More than that, its ‘Canvas’ platform, where players can upload their own content (UGC) has pulled in over 1.2 million players, with over 470,000 mods on offer.
A lot of this success boils down to one thing: we want another life sim. While The Sims will always be the genre’s pioneer, it’s over a decade old and there’s been no signs of Project Rene (which Maxis claims isn’t The Sims 5). InZOI is the perfect alternative, and its realism differentiates it enough from its competition. It’s here to stay, and I’m intrigued to see what comes next.
If InZOI has piqued your interest, too, we spoke to game director Hyungjun ‘Kjun’ Kim ahead of launch, discussing everything from babies to his lamentations over the game’s lack of silliness. If you’re already playing, though, check out our inZOI tattoos guide, as well as our list of inZOI cheats to ‘earn’ you fat stacks of cash.
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