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Supercell Discontinued his Everdale game last October, but the mobile game is getting a new life from mobile game studio Metacore.
Everdale is the second public game Metacore is working on alongside their first hit game Merge Mansion. While the studio doesn’t have a release timeline yet, Metacore is gearing up to launch another new game later this spring, Metacore CEO Mika Tammenkoski said in an interview with GamesBeat.
Helsinki-based Supercell, known for its quality focus and willingness to cancel games, has removed the Everdale game after announcing it and undergoing beta testing.
“When Supercell decided to stop the game, they approached us and said they saw a lot of potential. They asked if we would be interested in Everdale, Tammenkoski said. “We were honored to be given this opportunity, but we were also really excited because we see a lot of potential in that game.”
The core attraction
It’s hard to say exactly why Metacore wanted to pick up the game. In general, they liked the elements of the game, such as building a village. Tammenkoski said he couldn’t comment on details such as whether Supercell employees joined the project at Metacore.
Metacore will acquire the game from Supercell, but recreate it from the ground up as a free-to-play mobile game based on building and team play. That means Metacore will use much of the same art, but also generate new features and gameplay as it sees fit.
“Supercell is known for its high-quality games, so it goes without saying that we saw a lot of potential in Everdale,” said Tammenkoski. “From the vibrant world and striking landscape to the strong community element fostered by Supercell, there were many of the right building blocks in place for a hit game. Now our team is excited about the positive challenge of delving into Everdale’s market fit and expanding the game’s audience.”
The studios are not disclosing details of the deal, but Supercell has already transferred ownership of the game and its assets to Metacore, which has begun work on the game. Following Metacore’s typical game development process, their game team started from scratch by forming and testing various hypotheses about why audiences love the game.
“We couldn’t be happier to see Metacore take over Everdale, a game very dear to us,” Lasse Seppänen, former Everdale game lead, said in a statement. “During development it became clear to us that this game has a lot of potential and great and loyal fans, but unfortunately it wasn’t the right game for Supercell in the end. The team at Everdale came up with the idea of finding a new home for the game, and we are confident in handing over ownership of Everdale to the very talented team at Metacore. We have the utmost respect for their game development philosophy and can’t wait to see the next evolution of Everdale.”
Metacore isn’t making any concrete promises about the future of Everdale, and when – or even if – fans can expect a new iteration of the game. They’ve brought in a new game lead, Johannes Peltola (formerly EA and Digital Chocolate), to lead development and are currently seeking multiple new roles across Metacore’s game teams and operations.
“We set the bar extremely high for our games, so we can’t say for sure whether Everdale will ever become a live game project – but we hope we can continue to enhance the imaginative world that has already been built. This also gives us a unique opportunity to really test our game development process and see how it can be applied to existing games,” said Tammenkoski.
Founded in 2014, Metacore is a Helsinki-based games company that has enjoyed great success in the mobile gaming space. Merge Mansion, the studio’s first global hit game, launched in 2020, already has over 40 million players. Metacore has secured $180 million in credit from Supercell.
Metacore has about 110 people and they are spread over several games being developed at the same time.
“Our team will start from scratch and start forming hypotheses,” he said. “They will break the game down into parts and put things back together, then test it to see what works with the audience. Probably nothing will happen this year. Time will tell.”
Merge Mansion has been a huge success and Tammenkoski said he expects it to continue growing this year. He said he thinks the gaming industry itself will continue to grow. He said Helsinki still has a vibrant mobile gaming sector, although some companies are experiencing ups and downs in the recession.
As for the look and gameplay, Tammenkoski said the final game could be very different.
“In the end, it could look very different,” Tammenkoski said. “They created a world and there are mechanics. We can look at this basic fantasy they’ve been working on. We have people who are very excited to work on the game.
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