Squid Game Becomes Netflix's Biggest Debut Hit, Reaching 111 Million Viewers Worldwide

Squid Game Becomes Netflix's Biggest Debut Hit, Reaching 111 Million Viewers Worldwide

  • Blockbuster South Korean series Squid Game has made history by becoming the biggest debut show on Netflix
  • Popular movie streaming platform, Netflix, announced that the hit series garnered 111 million views four weeks after launch
  • Ironically, the Squid Game creator was turned down by studios for a decade

South Korean hit series Squid Game is officially the biggest debut show in Netflix’s history.

Squid Game is the biggest debut show on Netflix.
South Koren series Squid Game just made history on Netflix. Photo: Netflix.
Source: UGC

Via a social media post on Wednesday, October 13, the streaming platform announced that Squid Game has so far garnered 111 million views.

The statement by Netflix read:

“We won’t tell you who won Squid Game, but we can officially tell you Korea won Netflix. With 111M viewers, it's our biggest ever series at launch and the first to surpass 100M when it premiered.”

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The series launched four weeks ago, topped the charts in more than 80 countries, bumping aside Bridgerton.

According to The Guardian, when Bridgerton was released, it had 82 million views. Netflix calculates the views by including all the accounts that have watched an episode for at least two minutes.

Fans' reactions

Fans of the blockbuster series reacted to the announcement by Netflix by writing:

@bashful_michael:

"The cast deserves all this success, love them so much."

@wandalexia:

“And it’s just one season. What happens when Netflix will officially announced season two?”

@lauraholmes1980:

“I need to watch but I’m scared.”

@REDNAEL1102

“If you’re not watching this I don’t know what you’re doing with your life.”

@sati_whalien52

“They deserve it. Those who haven’t watched it yet are missing out.”

The series revolves around broke adults playing a traditional Korean children's game on a far-flung island.

The winner takes home around KSh 4 billion, while the rest of the contenders are eliminated, literally.

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Squid Game rejection

Before Netflix came along, no one wanted Squid Game. According to Hwang, studios turned down the script for the series for almost ten years.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Hwang first wrote the script a decade ago while staying with his grandmother and mum.

However, multiple bids to pitch the show flopped, with studios turning down the fictionalised show terming it too unrealistic.

At the time, Hwang was broke, and at one point, he even had to sell his laptop to survive.

Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Taiwo Owolawi avatar

Taiwo Owolawi (Entertainment Editor) Taiwo Owolawi is an entertainment and lifestyle journalist with four years of work experience at Legit.ng. She graduated from Osun State University with a degree in English and International Studies in 2016. She has also moved on to pursue courses in Public Relations and Copywriting. Taiwo emerged as Legit.ng's Best Entertainment Editor in 2022. Contact: taiwo.owolawi@corp.legit.ng.

Khadijah Thabit avatar

Khadijah Thabit (Copyeditor) Khadijah Thabit is an editor with over 3 years of experience editing and managing contents such as articles, blogs, newsletters and social leads. She has a BA in English and Literary Studies from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Khadijah joined Legit.ng in September 2020 as a copyeditor and proofreader for the Human Interest, Current Affairs, Business, Sports and PR desks. As a grammar police, she develops her skills by reading novels and dictionaries. Email: khadeeejathabit@gmail.com