[UPDATE] Success! After 36 hours, the Twitch community was able to beat Punch Club. Over 70,000 people participated. Now that it’s been beaten, the game has been put up for sale on Steam.

The original story is below.

The “Twitch Plays” phenomenon continues with an all-new effort that will see a developer hold back the release of an upcoming game until the community can beat it. In “Twitch Plays Pokemon” fashion, the community has been charged with working together (entering hashtag commands will dictate how the game plays out) to beat the ’90s-style boxing management game Punch Club.

“The fate of the game is in the hands of the Twitch chat,” representatives for developer Lazy Bear Games said in a release.

In a follow-up post on Punch Club’s Steam page, the developer clarified that even if the community fails to beat Punch Club, the game will still see the light of day with a launch on January 25. When Twitch beats Punch Club, or by January 25, everyone will be able to buy the game on PC. An iOS version will follow.

As an added perk, whenever Twitch is able to win a fight, a Steam key for the game will be dispersed into the Twitch chat. Plus, preorders for the Steam version are marked down 20 percent to $8.

Twitch Plays Punch Club is making solid progress since its launch earlier this week. At press time, the game stands at 88 percent completion.

What’s Punch Club all about? It’s described as a boxing tycoon management game featuring branching storylines. Your father was brutally murdered before your eyes and you’re now determined to “train hard, eat chicken and punch dudes in the face to earn your place in the Punch Club ranks, and discover who ended your father’s life.” You can legitimately climb the rankings or take a “more ridiculous, shady route.”

You can also punch ninja crocodiles in the face.

What do you make of this release strategy? Let us know in the comments below!