Uncovering the Factors Behind Schedule I's Remarkable Success

The success of Schedule I in 2025 is a notable phenomenon. TVGS's drug manufacturing and dealing simulator quickly rose to the top of Steam's Global Top Sellers after its release in late March and has maintained its position among the best-selling games on the platform. What's even more impressive is that Schedule I was developed by a solo creator with a minimal marketing budget. So, how did Schedule I manage to navigate the highly competitive Steam market, which saw major releases like Split Fiction and Assassin's Creed Shadows in March, to become one of 2025's biggest hits? The answer lies in a combination of its appealing theme, a potent mix of mechanics that cater to diverse audiences, broader shifts in player preferences, and a dash of good fortune. The most significant factor contributing to Schedule I's success is its subject matter. By focusing on building a criminal empire through drug manufacturing and distribution, Schedule I seamlessly blends business management, open-world exploration, driving, and combat, all tied together by the theme of criminality. This bears some resemblance to Grand Theft Auto, which likely contributed to its appeal. According to Katie Holt, senior research analyst at Ampere Analysis, "With Grand Theft Auto 6 on the horizon, albeit delayed until May 2026, players are eager for something to fill that space, and indie developers are much faster at responding to trends than larger gaming companies." Players have been waiting for a new Grand Theft Auto for over a decade, and few games have attempted to fill the gap left by Rockstar during this period. This is in stark contrast to twenty years ago, when GTA had numerous imitators, such as the Saints Row and True Crime series, that sought to carve out a slice of its criminal empire. Holt observes, "[Crime] is a subject matter that many major publishers avoid, despite Grand Theft Auto proving that there is a massive opportunity for more gritty gameplay experiences." While Schedule I shares a theme and some broader systems with GTA, which may have attracted some fans of Rockstar's games, it is built on different foundations. Schedule I is all about the process of drug dealing, featuring detailed systems for manufacturing various narcotics and a comprehensive management layer for controlling the day-to-day operation of your business. This enabled Schedule I to capture another significant Steam audience: simulation enthusiasts. Simon Carless, founder of GameDiscoverCo, notes, "Schedule I has a great twist on the 'first-person levelling-up' simulator grind. Since Supermarket Simulator unlocked a perfect combo of resource management and small business grind in February 2024, there’s been a series of ‘simulator’ games that are easy and intuitive to control, and have the gameplay loop dialled-in. Schedule I is really a continuation of this." Crucially, Schedule I's simulation is rich enough to appeal to sim lovers but not so interactively detailed as to put off players who come to it for GTA-style criminal shenanigans. Its drug manufacturing process is presented as a sequence of fun, highly tactile minigames, while its art style is cartoonish and lighthearted. Carless adds, "PlayWay-adjacent hit Drug Dealer Simulator always felt more grim and fiddlier than Schedule I, which has South Park-ish characters and wit. So, there’s just something that’s a bit more intuitive and mass market about it." Alongside the underlying quality of the game and the overlapping audiences it courts, Schedule I may have also benefited from a broader shift in gaming tastes. Michael Wagner, Senior Market Analyst at Newzoo, comments, "Over the past couple of years, we have seen viral hits made by smaller developers pop up all over. Balatro, Content Warning, Lethal Company, Chained Together, etc." Wagner further points out, "There have also been notably fewer AAA titles (outside of the annual release titles like Call of Duty and EA FC) that have been showing up since 2023. This may be creating more breathing room for these types of titles to get in front of more players." All three analysts agree that a key element in Schedule I's success is the inclusion of cooperative play. Holt explains, "Having a robust co-op mode can aid in the longevity of a title, particularly when a strong community is built around it." Wagner notes that like many co-op games, Schedule I has a relatively low price point, making it more accessible to players. Carless observes that Schedule I has been "getting a lot of added juice and influencer reach from super-entertaining co-op gameplay. Your favorite streamers hiding in a dumpster from the cops? It's a big multiplier of interest." Indeed, without any coordinated marketing, Schedule I has relied on viral sharing to attract its huge audience. Holt emphasizes, "The significance of virality cannot be overstated; it has the potential to put a title in front of millions of players, something that is simply out of budget for many indie developers." Several large streamers played the title, with a CaseOh stream peaking at over 78k views on Twitch and a Penguinz0 video reaching over 1.7m views on YouTube. Tiktok was also a significant source of attention for Schedule I, with 82,000 posts made using the hashtag 'schedule1' as of May 12. Of course, there are no guarantees as to whether or not a game will go viral. Wagner notes, "It often takes an incredible amount of luck for a game like Schedule I to make a pop like it has. A big streamer happens upon it and gives it reach. Maybe it gets picked up by the TikTok algorithm. But sometimes, it is just the right game at the right time." Holt points out that viral success is "part luck and part skill: Schedule I would not have gone viral without its unique combination of mechanics and solid gameplay loop." Another key element to Schedule I's viral spread is its demo. In December 2024, roughly four months before Schedule I released into Steam early access, TVGS offered a 'Free Sample' demo that exploded in popularity prior to the game's launch. Carless explains, "Schedule I’s ‘Free Sample’ demo started blowing up with influencers at the beginning of March. The game made GameDiscoverCo's unreleased Steam 'trending' chart multiple times that month. So, it wasn't a complete surprise if you'd been looking at CCU for unreleased Steam game demos." All of this contributed to making Schedule I an instant hit. What remains to be seen is the longevity of that success. While the game remains high on Steam's list of Global Top Sellers, it has dropped down the rankings slightly over recent weeks. Player counts have also dwindled significantly in the last month. This isn't unusual for a game with a limited amount of playability, however. Moreover, Schedule I is unfinished, with TVGS planning regular updates to the game for several years before it is complete. Given its existing audience, a consistent run of updates could well maintain Schedule I's success for years to come.