Cult of the Lamb “add sex” meme accidentally made other indie games go viral

Cult of the Lamb went viral with a meme “promising” that they’d add sexual content to their game if they hit a certain follower count, with the post gaining much more traction than the devs anticipated. So much so that other indie devs who got in on the fun have seen massive marketing success.

Though Cult of the Lamb isn’t a completely independent game, it’s definitely not a AAA game either. It’s still made by a small team with a tighter budget than big-budget games have.

So, finding smart, low-cost marketing tactics is definitely a priority for smaller dev teams. Even if you can’t afford to market your game everywhere, having other people market for you via word of mouth is a tried and true method of gaining players. Lethal Company is a great example of what a game going viral on social media can do to make an indie game explode, as shown by it outselling CoD on Steam for a time.

Cult of the Lamb’s devs had the simple idea of joking about an “add sex” update for the game, one that they claimed they’d add sex if they gained enough followers.

That post now has almost 300k likes and 35 million views on Twitter. It’s a viral hit, one that’s so massive that other small dev teams have been able to get in on the joke and gain some popularity of their own.

Cult of the Lamb has other devs teasing “add sex” updates

Savvy indie devs saw Cult of the Lamb’s viral smash hit marketing campaign as an opportunity to get their own games out there, even if they didn’t have an “add sex” update originally planned.

Aggro Crab continued with this by showing bits of the game that were already there, with a whole group of starfish getting steamy under the ocean.

However, Aggro Crab is a developer who’s experienced in finding effective ways to market their games. They’ve got a fairly strong social media presence and following considering the size of the studio, and they’ve already generated a great deal of hype for Another Crab’s Treasure, their upcoming crab-themed Souls-like.

There’s one case in which a fairly small developer managed to blow up overnight due to one piece of art for their own game.

Sunny Lab’s game, The Witch’s Bakery, puts the player in the shoes of a witch who explores Paris, coming up with and learning recipes as she goes and interacting with other NPCs throughout the game’s day/night cycle.

Though it’s still in the early prototyping phases, the slice-of-life game is very focused on the main character’s journey (and possible romance) with side characters. And, if the dev can get enough followers, they’re planning to follow through on their promise the same way Cult of the Lamb is.

Having an indie developer who’s still trying to drum up hype for their game see so much success from a viral trend is a surprisingly wholesome end to a meme about adding sex to a video game.