Mathias Gredal Nørvig, CEO of SYBO, the Danish mobile games studio best known for developing the most downloaded game of all time: Subway Surfers. 

While most of the hit mobile games from the early 2000s have since quietly disappeared, Subway Surfers continues to reach new growth milestones – even 13 years after its launch. In 2025 alone, the game celebrated surpassing both 4.5 billion lifetime downloads and 10 million followers on TikTok, bringing its total cross-platform following to 30 million.  

The mobile gaming industry is becoming increasingly more competitive – from new user acquisition challenges to battling for audience attention on devices now crowded with social media, streaming entertainment, ecommerce, and more. Yet, Subway Surfers' momentum has shown no signs of slowing down with a steady monthly player base of roughly 150 million. Through a similar community-first approach, tapping into the broader cultural zeitgeist, and prioritizing a consistent rollout of new in-game content, mobile games can foster new growth and longevity. 

Consistent Cadence of Fresh Live Ops

Since 2013, Subway Surfers has updated the game every three weeks for its World Tour series, which transports players to a new city around the globe in-game for a limited time. Each update includes a destination-themed environment, characters, soundtracks, and more. The series keeps players around the world anticipating next month’s content, eager to see if their city might be featured next. 

While monthly updates can feel daunting – especially to younger games or smaller studios – the long-term pay-off is clear. In the fast-paced world of mobile, with endless entertainment options readily available on users’ devices, prioritizing keeping your game feeling fresh and exciting to long-time players is no longer just an added bonus, it’s a necessity. It’s critical to maintain a dynamic and evolving game environment to drive lasting engagement, attract potential new players, and foster a deeper connection with communities. 

Embrace All Platforms Players Spend Time On

In today’s landscape, your out-of-game community is just as important as your active in-game player base. At SYBO, we’ve made it a priority to establish a presence and unique brand personality for Subway Surfers across every platform we know our community spends their time on – from TikTok to Facebook, Discord, Reddit and beyond. Not only does this provide channels to spread awareness around your game’s new updates, partnerships, and content, but also to garner greater brand equity with the next generation of consumers via entertaining content.  

TikTok in particular has proven to positively impact game engagement – with user-generated content (UGC) trends like “sludge content” and more propelling Subway Surfers not only solidify its position in mainstream cultural conversations but drive new waves of downloads. We’ve seen this time and time again, both firsthand with Subway Surfers and also through brands including Duolingo, Nutter Butter, and so many more experiencing new waves of cultural relevance from leaning into “unhinged,” Gen Z meme culture on the platform. 

Taking an entertainment-first approach to content rather than publishing only informational posts – in addition to being flexible with your IP by embracing fans’ organic UGC trends or takes on the game – are key to resonating with and establishing brand equity with the next generation of audiences. 

Listen to Your Community – and Reflect Their Opinions In Game

Your game’s community is a real-time sounding board, don’t take them for granted. Having a pulse on what matters most to your external and internal communities, and taking the initiative to reflect those themes in game, won’t go unnoticed. At SYBO, this has meant prioritizing sustainability, accessibility, and inclusivity-related campaigns – which reflect both our studio’s core values and the eagerness we’ve seen from Subway Surfers players to participate in social impact initiatives. 

Providing an avenue for players to directly contribute to the evolution of your IP additionally fosters a greater sense of personal investment and excitement around the game. SYBO’s ongoing Craft-A-Character competition series, for example, provides fans with the opportunity to directly contribute to Subway Surfers’ in-game content. Several times each year, players have the opportunity to submit original character designs via social media, for the chance to be selected as the next hit playable character in the game. So far, around 1,000 designs have been submitted from fans around the world, and five fan-created characters have launched in-game to date, exciting players around the globe. 

Taking your players' ideas seriously and leveraging two-way dialogue platforms like Reddit and Discord can help gather instrumental feedback and requests for future in-game partnerships or collaborations. When planning games’ content roadmaps – this should be the first place developers look for ideas. 

Looking Ahead

While the current mobile landscape may feel daunting to break into, there’s always room for more entertaining games to give players an escape from their everyday lives. Through having a deep pulse on the identity and needs of your core target audience, prioritizing your out-of-game brand identity just as much as the gameplay experience, keeping a “what’s next” mindset even when something’s working in-game – decade-plus long success may no longer feel as far-fetched.