From issue #001 | June 2018 | This article is offered by Arsenalet – company cluster
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Behind the scenes of
SYBO Games – home to the Subway Surfers In 2017, Subway Surfers topped the charts as the most downloaded game of the year and has since its launch in 2012 been downloaded more than 2 billion times.
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The megahit, an endless runner mobile game, was developed by the Danish mobile game developer SYBO Games and published by Kiloo. Today SYBO Games employs 85 people of 20 different nationalities, seeking to deliver content of the high- est quality including Blades of Brim and flagship title Subway Surfers.
As with so many other gargantuan successes, it had a humble beginning. The company was founded by Bodie Jahn-Mulliner and Sylvester Rishøj in 2010. The pair had co-directed the short Trainbombing as their graduation project at The Animation Workshop in Viborg the year before. Train Bombing laid the foundation for Subway Surfers, featuring a nameless graffiti-artist caught red-handed by a security guard and his dog, who also serves as the main antagonists in the game. 
In Subway Surfers, the player controls one of the many characters as they make their escape through the metro systems of the world, collecting coins, dodging oncoming trains and unlocking new characters and outfits in the process. SYBO has been able to keep their players engaged by regularly releasing new cities for players to run through and continuously expanding the massive character roster.
Now the property has come full circle, with the first 4-minute episode of the Subway Surfers animated series debuting on YouTube, introducing the world and the quartet of friends that inhabit it – Jake, Fresh, Tricky and Yutani. The premiere teases an expanded scope with a grand conspiracy, promising a larger, adventure-focused narrative set in Subway City, although the series also finds time to develop our four heroes and delve into the horde of teenage problems that plague them. The guard and his dog are nowhere to be seen yet, though. 
Michael Hegner explains the process behind the series.
Photo: Lars Just The series is part of a broader strategy from SYBO involving animated contents, live event, brand partnerships and licensed merchandise based on the game. Transitioning back to animation has long been the ambition of the short’s original creators. That leap required the right team, however. In order to translate their game into an animated series, SYBO enlisted the help of writers Brent Friedman (Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and Francesca Marie Smith (Hey Arnold!) as well as the former President of Warner Brothers Animation and Sony Pictures Family Entertainment, Daytime Emmy Award-winning producer Sander Schwartz (Justice League, Teen Titans, The Batman).
Michael Hegner executes directorial duties with art director Tommy Kinnerup making sure that the series retains the vibrant look and cool style of the game. SYBO takes care of all core design, characters, main locations, feedback, compositing and scoring with the rest of the production handled by Canadian DHX. The first episode of Subway Surfers premiered on June 1 and will be followed by an additional nine. There is also long-form series based on the property in development, at the moment slated for a 2019 launch. Written by Niels Harpøth
Images and artwork courtesy of SYBO Games ApS |
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