# Phasmophobia

> A solo developer's ghost-hunting game reached 30 million sales, Kinetic Games reported.

- Owner: Kinetic Games / Daniel Knight
- Kind: Game
- Sector: Gaming
- Seed date: 2020-09-18
- Peak date: Week of Dec 1, 2020
- Date basis: Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 70 (Viral), v1.2
- Mechanics: Underdog, Maker origin, Platform jump, Press loop, Controversy

## Summary

Knight seeded streamers with keys before the Steam launch. Twitch and YouTube play spread the game, which led Steam's sales chart for several weeks. Kinetic later brought it to consoles and reported 30 million sales while it remained in Early Access.

## Timeline

- 2020-09-18 — Kinetic Games (Open web) — Kinetic Games released Phasmophobia in Steam Early Access after sending game keys to streamers.
- Oct 2020 — YouTube creators (YouTube) — YouTubers began playing Phasmophobia during October alongside the Twitch breakout.
- 2020-10-07 — PC Gamer (Press) — PC Gamer called it Twitch's latest surprise hit and reported over 80,000 average weekly viewers.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/phasmophobia

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Phasmophobia.” Case HIS-00343. Spread Score v1.2: 70/100. Updated 2026-10-13. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-00343