# Stray

> Stray hit 62,963 Steam players at launch as videos of cats watching it spread.

- Owner: BlueTwelve Studio; Annapurna (publisher)
- Kind: Game
- Sector: Gaming
- Seed date: 2022-07-19
- Peak date: Week of Jul 20, 2022
- Date basis: Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 52 (Notable), v1.2
- Mechanics: Remixable template, Platform jump, Press loop

## Summary

Stray, a game about a cat, was released on July 19, 2022, and peaked at 62,963 concurrent Steam players that day. Posts of real cats watching it spread on X, TikTok, Reddit and Facebook, and Sony later ran a #StrayReactions campaign.

## Timeline

- Jul 2022 — Annapurna (Retail) — Ahead of the game's launch, Annapurna gifted copies of the game to an animal shelter.
- 2022-07-17 — Cats Watching Stray (@CatsWatchStray) (X) — The X account Cats Watching Stray posted before the game's release, in a post GameSpot later embedded.
- 2022-07-18 — Charles Villanueva (X) — Reviewer Charles Villanueva posted his cat's reaction to Stray: "my cat's review is the only one that matters".

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/stray

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Stray.” Case HIS-00982. Spread Score v1.2: 52/100. Updated 2026-10-17. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-00982