Miniclip vs SayGames

SYBO CEO on Subway Surfers at 15, City Pivot, and Next Steps

In an interview, Mathias Gredal Nørvig, CEO of SYBO Games, discusses the 15-year journey of Subway Surfers, which remains the most downloaded mobile game ever with nearly 4.9 billion lifetime downloads. He reveals that the game still achieves about one million new installs per day at zero user acquisition cost, attributing this to its viral nature and strong organic presence on platforms like TikTok. Nørvig addresses the performance of Subway Surfers City, which has seen 40-50 million downloads and is profitable but is pivoting to better differentiate from the original. He contrasts the business models: the original relies heavily on ads (90% of revenue) while City focuses on in-app purchases. He also discusses the acquisition by Miniclip in 2022, the challenges of the evolving mobile gaming industry, and upcoming projects including a new game expected to soft launch early next year and a potential movie that is still in development.

• Subway Surfers has surpassed 4.5 billion lifetime downloads, with SYBO CEO citing 4.8-4.9 billion including reinstalls.
• The game still generates about one million new installs per day at zero user acquisition cost.
• Subway Surfers City has achieved 40-50 million downloads and is profitable but is undergoing a strategic pivot.

Miniclip launches AdSurge ad network with Tencent AI, Easybrain data

Miniclip, a Tencent-owned mobile games company, launched AdSurge, an AI-powered mobile advertising platform, as an independent standalone company. AdSurge offers integrated user acquisition and ad monetization for third-party game publishers, initially targeting games monetized through in-app ads. It aims to improve user experience by making ads skippable in half the time and requiring fewer clicks to close. Developed over three years, AdSurge leverages Miniclip's scale, the Easybrain acquisition, and Tencent's AI expertise, though its algorithms are built from scratch. It captures a low single-digit share of wallet on ad monetization across Miniclip's portfolio, with double-digit margins. CEO Paul Bugryniec cited squeezed publisher margins as motivation. The next phase will extend to games using IAP and hybrid monetization.

• Miniclip launched AdSurge, an AI-powered mobile advertising platform, as a standalone company.
• AdSurge provides integrated user acquisition and ad monetization, initially for ad-monetized games.
• AdSurge ads are skippable in half the time and require fewer clicks to close.

What Makes a Publisher–Studio Partnership Last? Five Years of Building Tower War

New blog post published on October 6, 2026, discussing the five-year partnership between SayGames and Pavetra in building Tower War.

What Makes a Game Ready for an Entertainment IP?

In a guest post for PocketGamer.biz, SayGames COO Denis Vaikhanski discusses when a mobile game is ready for an entertainment IP collaboration, using the Tower War × Terminator 2: Judgment Day event as a case study. The collaboration was integrated into Tower War's existing progression systems rather than as a cosmetic layer, leading to over 2.5 million participating players, a 40% increase in in-app revenue, and up to 45% growth in daily downloads. Vaikhanski emphasizes that IPs should amplify already successful games, and that successful partnerships are built over years, as exemplified by the five-year evolution of Tower War and its developer Pavetra. The article highlights the publisher's role in creating opportunities and the developer's focus on game quality.

• More than 2.5 million players participated in the Tower War × Terminator 2 collaboration event.
• In-app revenue increased by approximately 40% during the collaboration.
• Daily downloads grew by as much as 45%.

SayGames uses analytics to tune hybrid puzzle difficulty

SayGames describes its data-driven approach to balancing level difficulty in hybrid puzzle games so that challenge, retention and monetisation coexist. Producer Pavel Korbut explains the studio’s test-and-learn process: release levels early, track metrics such as fail rate, churn, attempts, booster usage and rewarded ad views, form hypotheses, and run A/B experiments. The company stages new level chains to limited audiences and tests content packs before full rollout. SayGames reports steady in‑app purchase growth (May 2024: $3.53M; May 2025: $6.19M; May 2026: $8.49M per Sensor Tower) and highlights design techniques such as controlled “close win” tension and smoothing or shifting difficulty spikes to improve pacing and LTV.

• SayGames uses player data and continuous A/B testing to tune level difficulty in hybrid puzzle games.
• SayGames’ reported in-app purchase revenue was $3.53M (May 2024), $6.19M (May 2025), and $8.49M (May 2026), according to Sensor Tower.
• The studio tracks metrics including fail rate, churn, number of attempts, booster usage, level duration, and rewarded ad views to evaluate levels.