Aggro Crab has finally revealed the answer to a question we’ve all been asking about Peak, its surprise hit co-op climbing collab with Landfall–is Bing Bong sentient?
The answer is yes, or at least, he used to be. The studio revealed in a recent video that developers used to possess Bing Bong to talk to streamers, but no longer will be doing so. In a video that shows a look behind the curtain, Aggro Crab revealed that devs would talk to players through Bing Bong, but only in cases where they were publicly sharing their game.
“It was a really funny way to give creators a wild experience in the first few weeks of us releasing Peak,” the video explains. Aggro Crab also clarifies that devs weren’t able to join private games, and that talking Bing Bong was only really present in those first few weeks. “We removed this feature mid-June, so if you are seeing anyone claiming that the devs are joining them through Bing Bong or any other way, they’re full of sh**.”
Bing Bong, a lumpy green plushie, is found on the crashed plane at the start of Peak. Even though he may no longer be sentient, he has become something of a mascot for the game, and many players give up precious pack space just to cart him to the top of the mountain.
This kind of direct interaction with streamers isn’t out of character for Landfall–on the studio’s previous title Clustertruck, the developers “hacked” a version of the game being run at Summer Games Done Quick, interacting with the speedrunner through messages on the screen and modifying game visuals on the fly.
Peak has been surprisingly successful for a game developed largely in a one-month game jam, selling over a million copies in its first week and continuing to reach higher player peaks over time. The game is receiving regular updates, with the latest update adding the new Mesa biome, and the one before that implementing cannibalism.
