It's not often that we see a game where the primary aim of players is to do things considered taboo or against the law in the real world. TVGS' newest game, Schedule I, is one such offering, with its bold, intriguing gameplay that borders on the negative catching the attention of the video gaming community, including top streamers, and sending it to the top of the Twitch livestreaming charts.
Schedule I came out in early access on March 24, and over the last 11 days, it has received overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam. What has made the title go viral on the digital distribution service is its simple yet dark story, as players go from small-time dope pushers to kingpins, manufacturing and distributing multiple drugs throughout the grungy city of Hyland Point. They will aim to expand their empires with properties, businesses, employees and more, all the while committing a few crimes hear and there.
The indie drug dealer sim became such a hit on social media that it rose to the top of Steam's most-sold games chart in its first week. The title was second at the time of writing this article, with this success also making Schedule I one of Twitch's top ten games by watch time and peak concurrent viewership since its early access launch.
Schedule I touched the peak of its popularity on April 1, around a week after its release. The 225,417 Peak Viewers (PV) it reached was much higher than the more prominent, legacy titles like Counter-Strike, Valorant, League of Legends, and Grand Theft Auto V by daily viewership, which is no mean feat.
What makes this success all the more poignant is that the developer behind the title is more or less a single person. TVGS stands for Tyler's Video Game Studio, an independent video game studio located in Sydney, Australia.
While it is registered as a company, it is in fact just one person, Tyler, also the founder, doing most of the developing work. He does have help from a composer and a graffiti artist, but Schedule I is still more or less a solodev undertaking, making the initial euphoria around it all the more celebration-worthy.
“Honestly it’s amazing but pretty overwhelming. I never expected this kind of response! At the moment I’m just trying to stay focussed and get patches out ASAP. Also looking forward to getting started on content updates as soon as all major bugs are patched.”
- Tyler, Founder and Developer, TVGS, on the success of his game's early access
Top content creators have played their part in making the title such a big deal on Twitch. The likes of Case "Caseoh" Baker, Rubén "Rubius" Doblas, ironmouse, Zack "zackrawrr" Hoyt, and Windah Basudara are all among its most-watched streamers on the purple platform between March 24 and April 3.
As highlighted by this eclectic bunch of influencers, Schedule I has become a hit globally, cutting across diverse backgrounds and languages. English and French creators were the first to tune in, even before the early access, with German, Portuguese, and Russian online personalities coming around near the release day.
Tyler has also ensured that any bugs and issues that users have faced so far have been addressed as speedily as possible, contributing to its positive word of mouth. Despite working solo, he has already released six patch fixes for the title, with the latest one coming earlier on April 4.
Another feather in the cap of Schedule I is the fact that it has jumped up the queue to become one of the top releases of 2025 so far. Such has been the worldwide reception that its watch time has already passed the numbers of fellow recent releases like Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Split Fiction, both of which enjoyed pretty successful launches in their own rights.
The game's USP — players being allowed to bring out the more negative aspects of their personalities that perhaps cannot be displayed in real life — should also be mentioned for its explosive launch. The one game that pops up in mind when thinking of parallels is GTA V, which continues to be beloved among video game lovers and in the livestreaming community.
Schedule I's early access success has once again shown that a game when well made will always attract positivity from the community, regardless of the profile of its developer/publisher. It also boosts the profile of the indie gaming segment as a whole, and if it can even achieve a fraction of the love that similar, more legendary games like GTA V have received, that would be the ultimate compliment to its rise.
