If you don’t have kids, it’s quite possible you’ve never heard of Gorilla Tag, and if you do have kids, there’s a good chance Gorilla Tag is all you’ve been hearing about for a few years now. Originally developed by one person, Kerestell Smith–known to fans by his online handle Lemming–Gorilla Tag is the game of a generation. It hosts a million unique players daily, up to three million monthly active users, and has been played by over 12 million people since it released in 2021. While many older players have sometimes already written off VR, players of a particular age, approximately 7-14, have flocked to a game that is simple in its gameplay loop but sneakily complex in its design.
As both a writer in this space and the parent of a Gen Alpha kid who’s been shimmying through his bedroom as a virtual great ape for a few years now, I was excited to meet Smith and hear the complete Gorilla Tag origin story, learning why and how he believes Gorilla Tag overtook a generation, and what it means for the future of the platform.
“What’s really funny is that I didn’t set out to make a game that kids like. I just thought to make a game that I like,” Smith told me through a laugh as part of a sit-down conversation in Seattle during PAX West earlier this month. “So I don’t know what that says about my sensibilities for, like, what I want to do in VR.”