About

Squid Game Mods / Real-Life Games refers to fan labor projects copying the mechanics of the 2021 South Korean Netflix series Squid Game, including mods for games such as Roblox and Grand Theft Auto V or real-life renditions of games inspired by the series.

Origin

On September 17th, 2021, the South Korean survival drama series Squid Game premiered on Netflix.^[1] In the series, 456 strangers compete in a mysterious survival game consisting of a series of children's games with deadly twists (trailer shown below).

The series became a massive hit with audiences worldwide, becoming Netflix's biggest series launch, viewed by over 111 million viewers in four weeks.^[2]

The series soon inspired fan mods for various video games such as Roblox and Grand Theft Auto V based on games from the series, with the deadly version of Red Light, Green Light from episode one of the show attracting particular attention. Additionally, people began recreating various games from the show in real life and posting them on social media.

Roblox Squid Game Custom Games

In the multiplayer video game Roblox, several fan-made versions of Red Light, Green Light and other games were created by users in late September 2021.^[3] The game named "Fish Game," based on Red Light, Green Light and submitted^[4] by user GOODJUJU on September 23rd, 2021, gained particular popularity, gaining over 259,000 thumb-ups in three weeks.

Gameplay videos of the Roblox games were posted on TikTok, YouTube and Twitter in September and October 2021, with multiple content creators, such as PewDiePie and Cr1TiKaL, streaming and posting Let's Play videos of the games.^[5][6]

On September 25th, TikToker^[7] @junelldominic posted a gameplay video of one such game, with the post gaining over 62.5 million views and 7.4 million likes in one week (shown below, left).

GTA 5 Squid Game Roleplays and Mods

In October 2021, Squid Game roleplay in the multiplayer video game Grand Theft Auto V gained widespread use. For example, on October 4th, YouTuber^[8] Vadact posted a GTA V roleplay video that received over 654,000 views in one week (shown below, left). On the same day, YouTuber^[9] jmwFILMS posted a similar video that gained over 420,000 views in one week (shown below, right).

Other Video Game Squid Game Mods

In October 2021, the gameplay of Red Light, Green Light was recreated in mods for various video games, including Among Us (gameplay video shown below, left)^[10] and Minecraft (shown below, right).^[11]

On October 10th, 2021, 3D-media website Punkoffice^[12] released a browser version of Red Light, Green Light.

Cr1tiKaL's Real-Life Squid Games

On October 10th, 2021, YouTuber^[13] Cr1TiKaL posted a video titled "Real Squid Game for $10,000 – Game 1," the first video in a series of four Squid Game-inspired challenges in which 20 participants competed for $10,000. In the video, players participated in a game of Red Light, Green Light, taken from episode one of the series. The video received over 1.8 million views in three days with four participants eliminated.

On October 12th, 2021, Cr1TiKaL posted the video^[14] of the second game, which gained over 640,000 views in less than 24 hours (shown below, right). In the episode, participants wielding stick-like objects had to find four keys hidden in a room filled with piñatas.

Mr. Beast's Real-Life Squid Games

On October 11th, 2021, YouTuber MrBeast posted a TikTok^[15] captioned, "if this TikTok gets 10M likes, I'll recreate squid games in real life." The video received over 58.1 million views and 15.2 million likes in two days (shown below).

On October 14th, 2021, MrBeast confirmed^[16] that he will be hosting a real-life version of Squid Game for 456 participants, writing that it would require one month to make all the necessary preparations.

On November 11th, 2021, MrBeast's IRL Squid Game premiered on YouTube,^[17] gaining over 3 million views in one hour (shown below).

Search Interest

External References