By Now, Subway Surfers Should Be Dead! | Temple Run Clone

Introduction and Origin:

Subway Surfers, the game that you must have played for hours, became the first game on the Google Play Store to complete 1 billion downloads. This game is not dead in today's time but has become more popular than before, and Temple Run, which came before this, is a dead game today. So, what is so different about Subway Surfers that it is so popular even in this day and age? I will tell you the complete story of this game in this video.

Origin and Development:

The time is around 2010 when Sylvester Jensen and Bodhi Mullinar started a company called Sybo Games. Both have studied at the Animation Workshop in Denmark, a leading animation institute, and they won the Best Animation Movie Award in 2009. In that short film, they showed a man who makes graffiti in metro stations, but when the guards see him and he runs into the subway, seems familiar, yes?

This is the idea on which the Subway Surfers game is based. Although a piece of news spread that the game was based on the late son of the developer who passed away while skateboarding in a subway, it was later revealed that it was just a piece of fake news. The developers clarified again that the game is made to honor street culture. It is inspired by skate culture, fashion, music, and urban art, not because of someone's death. So there is no such negative message behind the game, rather it encourages creativity.

Partnership and Launch:

So they even pitched the cool idea as a game and to create this, they partnered with Kilo Games. Kilo Games is a very old gaming company that was set up in 2000 and they have a lot of experience making games. Subway Surfer was modeled after Temple Run because it suits this concept and at that time many endless runners inspired by Temple Run were being made. Finally, on May 24, 2012, the most downloaded mobile game of the decade, Subway Surfers, was released.

Gameplay and Features:

The game was very simple during the launch. Jake, the main character of the game, gets caught making graffiti on the subway and now the guard and his dog are behind him so he is running from them in the subway either dodging obstacles or jumping over trains if he dies then he will come back to life by watching ads or by spending Keys apart from that many items can be collected and power-ups are available that help in the gameplay. I remember when we used to play and compete with our friends for the highest score or items.

Popularity and Achievements:

The game initially faced resistance due to its similarities to Temple Run in terms of gameplay. Some critics argued that the market for endless runners was already crowded, and Subway Surfers didn't offer anything significantly different. However, not all critics share this view. Gradually, people began to appreciate the game, and it quickly gained popularity. Within just eight months of its release, it reached 100 million downloads. By 2014, this number had increased to 500 million, and in 2015, it surpassed 1 billion downloads. In 2017, it became the most downloaded game in the world, and in 2018, it achieved another milestone by becoming the first game on the Google Play Store to reach 1 billion downloads. Remarkably, its popularity continues unabated, with over 3 billion downloads across all platforms to date.

Expansion and Adaptations:

Upon seeing the success of the game, an animated series was also made which is available on Sybo's YouTube channel. In this short series of 11 episodes, we get to know the stories of Jake, Tricky, Fresh, and Yutani. Those are also the main protagonists of the game and even the guard, the dog, and Frank are there as villains. This series was very successful and it has more than 150 million views. I'm sure you haven't seen this so make sure to check it out. I also started watching the series in the course of my research which might not suit a 23-year-old man.

Factors Contributing to Success:

Now the main question comes: how did the game become so successful while Temple Run has become such a dead game in today's date? So there are not one but many reasons for it like easy controls. I mean in Temple Run we have to tilt our left and right our mobile along with swiping so that with the help of the gyroscope we can collect coins or avoid obstacles everyone doesn't even like the 90-degree turns but Subway Surface has greatly simplified controls all you have to do is swipe to play the game and there is no sharp turn where one is unsure what lies ahead. Then if you see the look of the game that too is quite attractive though Temple Run looks a bit realistic not everyone will necessarily like it the subway Surface game has been given a very cartoonish look which is appealing to everyone be they adults or children.

Continuous Updates and Engagement:

And the good thing about its developers is that even though they did not develop any sequels to Subway's surface they provided regular updates for this game. The best is the world tour in which different locations are added inside the game that are inspired by real life. These range from Barcelona to New York to Mumbai and every time they updated the map they tried to give it a local feel along with adding some new characters. Apart from that a lot of content was also added to the game as of now more than 100 characters have been featured in it which can be either unlocked or purchased.

Challenges and Decline:

But there was a time when the game was dead. This happened between 2016 and 2022 due to several reasons. Repetitive gameplay was a major issue because, no matter how fun the gameplay was, players would eventually get bored. They wouldn't care about collecting items or achieving high scores, leading to a decline in engagement. Additionally, the game's engine was updated, making it difficult to release updates for the old engine. 

However, this led to numerous bugs in the game, resulting in the deletion of players' previous records and causing frustration. Furthermore, the presence of ads became annoying, as they interfered with gameplay. While in some games, ads are displayed either after the end of the game or to purchase items, this model of advertising is not favored in today's times. Most mobile games from big publishers now only contain microtransactions. Moreover, the emergence of mid-core and hardcore games with deeper gameplay made it challenging for old casual games like Subway Surfers to survive in the market.

Revival and Impact:

Subway Surfers has seen a remarkable revival in popularity. Even though there was a period when players may have forgotten about the game, it regained attention due to a viral moment in 2022. Speed, a well-known content creator, played Subway Surfers, and his rage moment went viral, attracting more players to the game. This increased viewership of Subway Surfers-related videos led to renewed interest, with creators making more content such as speedruns or RTX videos. While Subway Surfers may not have reached the peak popularity of Temple Run, it has overtaken it in recent times. 

Its current popularity suggests that it continues to be a favorite among players. With Sybo Games now owned by Miniclip, which in turn is owned by Tencent, the future of Subway Surfers remains uncertain. Will the developers capitalize on its current popularity by creating new adaptations like an animated series or movie? Only time will tell. Nonetheless, it's important to remember that Subway Surfers gained its initial popularity when Temple Run introduced endless runners as part of mainstream culture.