SYBO Games is a Danish

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

company located in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark founded by Sylvester Rishøj Jensen and Bodie Jahn-Mulliner. SYBO is mainly known for being the creators and intellectual property owners of the most-downloaded mobile-runner game, ''

Subway Surfers ''Subway Surfers'' is a 2012 endless runner mobile game which is co-developed by Kiloo and SYBO Games, private companies based in Denmark. It is available on iOS, Android, HarmonyOS NEXT, Amazon Fire Tablet, and Windows Phone platforms and ...

'', which SYBO co-developed with

Kiloo Kiloo Games (commonly known as Kiloo and stylized in all caps) was a Danish video game developer. It was founded in 2000 by Jacob Møller, with a focus on developing entertainment content for game console and handheld devices. In 2008, he was jo ...

. SYBO has also released a second mobile runner game titled ''Blades of Brim''. Like ''Subway Surfers'', Blades of Brim is also an endless runner

freemium Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium", is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical ( ...

title with in-app purchases. SYBO was among the first seven

Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia social media and instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of the app are that pictures and messages, known as "snaps", are usually availa ...

games with ''Subway Surfers Airtime'',Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
released late 2019. In June 2022,

Miniclip Miniclip is a Swiss mobile game publisher and former browser game website that was first launched on 30 March 2001. It was started by Robert Small and Tihan Presbie with a budget of £40,000. In 2008, Miniclip was valued at over £275 million. ...

agreed to buy SYBO in an undisclosed deal.

Games popularity and TV production

One week after the release of ''Subway Surfers'', the

running

game A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...

for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

had reached three million downloads and become the most downloaded game in 20 countries. Consequently, AppAdvice named it the Game of the Week for May 31, 2012. Four months later, Subway Surfers was available to

Android Android most commonly refers to: *Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), a mobile operating system primarily developed by Google * Android TV, a operating system developed ...

users and quickly spread. The following month saw Subway Surfers rise into the top 20 growing

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

apps by

monthly active users Active users is a software performance metric that is commonly used to measure the level of engagement for a particular software product or object, by quantifying the number of active interactions from users or visitors within a relevant range ...

. Eight months after the initial release, ''Subway Surfers'' landed 100 million downloads. By 2017, ''Subway Surfers'' was the most downloaded game across the globe. Furthermore, ''Subway Surfers'' is the first Android mobile game to cross one billion downloads in Google Play, a milestone reached in March 2018. Today, the Subway Surfers runner game has been downloaded over 2.7 billion times averaging over 100 million active users per month. The success of ''Subway Surfers'' has also resulted in the creation of ''Subway Surfers The Animated Series'' - an 11-episode, short-form cartoon series that follows the adventures of the game’s four main protagonists; Jake, Tricky, Fresh and Yutani. The show also includes some antagonistic characters such as Guard, Dog, and Frank - the mysterious figure who wears a bunny mask. The series premiered on June 1, 2018 and was well-received. The episodes have accumulated over 100 million views and are currently published on SYBO TV (SYBO’s YouTube channel with over 3.3 million subscribers) along with supporting content such as behind-the-scenes and character feature videos. The short-form episodes premiered June 1, 2018, with 11 episodes where you get to know the main characters of the Subway Surfers game. The short-form animated series shows the lives of the main characters Jake, Tricky, Fresh and Yutani and introduces the mysterious Frank, a guy with a bunny mask, among other characters including the Guard and the Dog. The animated series has over 120 million views on their SYBO TV channel. SYBO further extended its universe by launching the

game Subway Surfers Airtime as of late 2019. The multiplayer mobile game allows you to challenge your friends and race with your favorite characters. Skate the tracks and collect coins to unlock new characters. Hold and release to jump and get ahead of your friends to reach the finish line first. SYBO's second endless runner game was Blades of Brim (BoB) released in 2015. Blades of Brim became the editor's choice in the Apple app store as of 2016. The player runs through levels to save the world of Brim by fighting the Goon Lord’s minion army. The BoB endless runner is free-to-play, includes magic creatures and inspiring surroundings.

History

Knowing each other from the leading animation institution in Denmark,

the Animation Workshop The Animation Workshop is an animation school housed in the former military barracks in Viborg, Denmark. It is a part of VIA University College's School of Business, Technology and Creative Industries. Since the late 1980s, The Animation Workshop ...

, Creative Director Sylvester Rishøj Jensen and CEO Bodie Jahn-Mulliner founded SYBO Games in 2010 as a consequence of winning 1st prize for best animation movie at Hamburg Animation Award 2009. Their short film featured a graffiti troublemaker who had to run away from the dog and the guard as they chased him around in the subway. Pitching the game idea for

Danish Film Institute The Danish Film Institute (; DFI) is the national Danish institution, agency responsible for supporting and encouraging film and cinema culture, and for conserving these in the national interest. It is the successor organisation to the Danish Fil ...

, New Danish Screen sponsored SYBO Games initiative for the game resulting in a release three years later. Before they launched Subway Surfers, they also created the game apps Powerflow and Cosmic Cab. Today, the game studio is completely self-owned and continues to develop regular updates for ''Subway Surfers'', while also creating other games for

mobile device A mobile device or handheld device is a computer small enough to hold and operate in hand. Mobile devices are typically battery-powered and possess a flat-panel display and one or more built-in input devices, such as a touchscreen or keypad. ...

Subway Surfers Animated Series

On June 1, 2018, the first of a series of animated shorts debuted on SYBO Games

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel. At the beginning of 2020, the series hit 170 million views. The 10 x 4-minute episodic series is scripted by Brent Friedman and Francesca Marie Smith and produced by Daytime Emmy award-winning producer

Sander Schwartz Sander Schwartz (born January 7, 1954) is an American Daytime Emmy award-winning producer of television animation. He was President of Warner Bros. Animation between 2001 and 2007, followed by President, International Productions of Sony Picture ...

. Chris Bartleman is supervising director and Michael Hegner is the director.

Environment

On September 23, 2019, SYBO joined Playing for the Planet together with UN Environment. By joining, SYBO and 19 other game development companies made several commitments to deliver games in environmentally sustainable ways. Playing for the Planet aims to reduce emissions by 30 million tonnes by 2030, plant millions of trees, advance

energy conservation Energy conservation is the effort to reduce wasteful energy consumption by using fewer energy services. This can be done by using energy more effectively (using less and better sources of energy for continuous service) or changing one's behavi ...

, increase

consumer awareness Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organisations and all activities associated with the Purchasing, purchase, Utility, use and disposal of goods and services. It encompasses how the consumer's emotions, Attitude (psy ...

via in-game menus and game design, reduce plastics and toxics in packaging, steer towards a

circular economy A circular economy (also referred to as circularity or CE) is a model of resource Production (economics), production and Resource consumption, consumption in any economy that involves sharing, leasing, Reuse, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and ...

in plastic and electronic device (

e-waste Electronic waste (or e-waste) describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. It is also commonly known as waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) or end-of-life (EOL) electronics. Used electronics which are destined for refurbi ...

) management, and catalyze a global scale ally in planetary problem-solving. Prior to joining Playing for the Planet SYBO changed to an organic and mostly vegetarian canteen and installed solar panels on their office building's roof. SYBO also invested in solar projects in India and waste management in Chile.

Awards and honors

* SYBO Games winning Best Pitch at Growing Games 2011 * Subway Surfers declared AppAdvice's Game of the Week for May 31, 2012 * Subway Surfers nominated in the Community Choice-category by Unity Awards 2012 for games that takes the best advantage of the Unity 3D game engine * Winner of Best Danish Game at Mobil Awards 2012 by Danish newspaper B.T. and Magasinet Mobil * Among top 10 non-stop running game apps for iOS and Android by NDTV Gadgets * Winner of Best Bathroom Break Casual Game 2013 by Best Mobile App Awards * Subway Surfers nominated for Best Nordic Handheld Game 2013 by Nordic Game Awards * Subway Surfers nominated by Producentforeningen for Game Of the Year in Denmark, Spilprisen, 2013 * 5th Annual Awards Winner for Best Entertainment App by BestAppEver for Android

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em

External links

SYBO Games websiteSYBO TV
Mobile game companies Software companies of Denmark Software companies based in Copenhagen Companies based in Copenhagen Danish companies established in 2010 Video game companies established in 2010 2022 mergers and acquisitions Video game companies based in Copenhagen Video game companies of Denmark Video game development companies Companies based in Copenhagen Municipality