The Game Census
The Maw cover art

The Maw

Twisted Pixel Games · 2009-03-09

SteamXboxMicrosoft Store

ActionIndie

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Third person, Bird view / Isometric

Releases: Mar 09, 2009 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Jan 21, 2009 (Xbox 360)

The pinnacle of alien evolution, Maw is a cowardly fat blob concerned mostly with snacking and lounging. He can, however, absorb the traits of anything he eats, is virtually indestructible, and can grow to unlimited size. If he wasn't a danger to all life in the universe, he'd make the perfect pet.

The Maw is an Action and Indie game released in 2009, priced at $9.99, with an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 owners and a Very Positive sentiment (84% of 384 reviews).

1
playing now
84%
positive of 384 reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
50,000–100,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
78/100
critic score (4 outlets, IGDB)
68/100
IGDB user rating (16 ratings)
silver
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Unsupported
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Unsupported
$9.99
steam price (US)

1 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 18:00 UTC (census sample)

The Maw is a 2009 action-adventure video game developed by Twisted Pixel Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. A port for Microsoft Windows developed by Hothead Games was released the same year. The game centers on the extraterrestrial pair Frank and The Maw, a purple, amorphous creature, whose spacecraft crashed on an alien planet. The player assumes the role of Frank and directs The Maw—which can take on the abilities of objects and fauna it consumes—via a leash.

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 1 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 32 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~4/week).
  • · Review velocity up 33% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 23% of 27,751 Action games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-09-01

Estimated sales: 15k–31k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 384 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Microsoft Store$2.49-75%

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $0.99 at Steam (2016-06-23)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $9.99 · on sale 9 of 21 observed days (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
6620152026Week of 2015-10-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2015-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2015-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2015-12-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2016-01-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2016-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2016-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2016-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2016-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2016-06-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2016-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2016-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2016-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2016-12-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2016-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2017-01-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2017-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2017-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2017-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2017-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2017-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2017-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2017-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2017-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2017-10-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2017-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2017-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2021-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 2 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 1 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 1 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

202026-09-15 03:00 — 1 players2026-09-16 12:00 — 0 players2026-09-17 19:00 — 0 players2026-09-19 03:00 — 0 players2026-09-20 10:00 — 0 players2026-09-21 18:00 — 0 players2026-09-23 01:00 — 0 players2026-09-24 09:00 — 0 players2026-09-25 16:00 — 0 players2026-09-27 00:00 — 0 players2026-09-28 07:00 — 0 players2026-09-29 15:00 — 0 players2026-09-30 22:00 — 0 players2026-10-02 06:00 — 1 players2026-10-03 13:00 — 1 players2026-10-04 22:00 — 0 players2026-10-06 05:00 — 1 players2026-10-07 13:00 — 1 players2026-10-08 20:00 — 0 players2026-10-10 04:00 — 0 players2026-10-11 11:00 — 1 players2026-10-12 19:00 — 1 players2026-10-14 02:00 — 0 players2026-10-14 18:00 — 1 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$9.99$0.992015-01-012026-10-082015-01-01 — best price $1.992015-11-25 — best price $1.992016-02-05 — best price $1.992016-11-23 — best price $0.992017-06-22 — best price $0.992017-12-21 — best price $2.492018-06-21 — best price $2.492018-11-21 — best price $2.492019-02-04 — best price $2.492019-11-26 — best price $2.492020-01-23 — best price $2.492020-04-06 — best price $9.992020-07-23 — best price $2.492020-12-22 — best price $2.492021-04-08 — best price $2.492021-11-24 — best price $2.492022-01-27 — best price $2.492022-06-09 — best price $2.492022-09-13 — best price $2.492022-11-29 — best price $9.992023-01-31 — best price $9.992023-05-04 — best price $9.992023-07-13 — best price $9.992024-02-13 — best price $9.992024-04-25 — best price $3.292024-06-27 — best price $3.292024-11-27 — best price $2.492025-01-20 — best price $2.792025-04-24 — best price $2.492025-06-27 — best price $2.492025-11-21 — best price $1.992026-01-21 — best price $1.992026-04-16 — best price $1.992026-06-25 — best price $1.992026-09-10 — best price $9.992026-10-08 — best price $2.49
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

3062026-05-28 — 20 pageviews2026-06-01 — 10 pageviews2026-06-05 — 20 pageviews2026-06-09 — 20 pageviews2026-06-13 — 18 pageviews2026-06-17 — 19 pageviews2026-06-21 — 26 pageviews2026-06-25 — 23 pageviews2026-06-29 — 20 pageviews2026-07-03 — 13 pageviews2026-07-07 — 18 pageviews2026-07-11 — 15 pageviews2026-07-15 — 9 pageviews2026-07-19 — 13 pageviews2026-07-23 — 30 pageviews2026-07-27 — 15 pageviews2026-07-31 — 6 pageviews2026-08-04 — 18 pageviews2026-08-08 — 18 pageviews2026-08-12 — 11 pageviews2026-08-16 — 12 pageviews2026-08-20 — 16 pageviews2026-08-24 — 16 pageviews2026-08-28 — 9 pageviews2026-09-01 — 14 pageviews2026-09-05 — 25 pageviews2026-09-09 — 16 pageviews2026-09-13 — 14 pageviews2026-09-17 — 26 pageviews2026-09-21 — 24 pageviews2026-09-25 — 8 pageviews2026-09-29 — 8 pageviews2026-10-03 — 22 pageviews2026-10-07 — 10 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

15
achievements tracked
87.2%
earned "All Growed Up"
19.8%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFamily Sharing3 DLC

8 supported languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Korean, Japanese, Traditional Chinese

Post-launch support: 3 DLC released, first 2009-04-29 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Xbox 360 (Xbox)24,46612%15
Steam (Steam)3,2998%15

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Player tags

CuteFunnyIndieActionAliensCasualComedyPuzzleAdventurePlatformer

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

No Man's SkyGhost 1.0PLANET ALPHAFigmentUse Your WordsHello NeighborPikunikuSemblance

Similarity via IGDB.

Wikipedia ↗Official site ↗