Mobile game development studio Super Evil Megacorp has had quite the 2023 with an Apple Arcade release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate and a partnership with Netflix, which sees the studio attached to another famous IP with its upcoming Rebel Moon project. Despite hitting some speed bumps in the past, bringing Vainglory to the world of esports, Super Evil Megacorp is well and truly on the up.

We spoke with studio head Ian Fielding to discuss how Super Evil Megacorp reflects on the accomplishments of 2023 and what challenges were met along the way. We also touch on what's coming next with projects such as Rebel Moon and attending Pocket Gamer Connects London in January.

PocketGamer.biz: As we approach the back end of 2023, how do you feel the year went for Super Evil Megacorp?

Ian Fielding: When we reflect on the year, we are very proud of how much we have been able to achieve together at SEMC. We’ve grown by more than 30 developers who have come to us from studios including Riot Games, Blizzard Entertainment, PlayStation and others.

This year, we shipped TMNT: Splintered Fate to Apple Arcade. We began work, through our partnership with Netflix, on an epic co-op action title set in the universe of Zack Snyder’s eagerly anticipated Rebel Moon. We spun up our UK entity and continue to grow in the UK and internationally. And we continue to make substantial progress on our unannounced AAA cross-platform game. We are also very thankful for the continued support of our partners at Apple, Netflix, Paramount, along with our unannounced partners too.

You mentioned the released Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate on Apple Arcade. What was the decision behind having the title launch on Apple Arcade? Was this always the intention?

Yes, we were very excited to work with the Apple Arcade and Paramount team to launch TMNT: Splintered Fate on the platform. The product was always planned to ship first on Apple Arcade, as we felt we could provide a unique product to the service, a great co-op title to play with family and friends - a key focus of Apple Arcade - and one that really maximises the use of the hardware since you can play TMNT:SF at 4K resolution on Apple TV and co-op across iOS, iPad, Mac, & Apple TV.

Super Evil Megacorp also announced its partnership with Netflix earlier this year and your work on Rebel Moon. How did that opportunity arise and how is the game looking?

Netflix has been doing a great job hiring veteran industry talent that we respect. They are really intent on providing high-quality titles for their players that also fully focus on the player experience versus monetisation - due to it being a subscription service. They are also uniquely positioned to pioneer exciting new ways to delight audiences more broadly across games and entertainment. We’ve been talking to them for a while about a potential project we could team up around that plays to our strengths of action-oriented co-op games. When Netflix expressed interest in having a studio build the flagship game title for the Rebel Moon IP, we felt it was a fantastic match with our skills, interests, and team. We also are big fans of many of Zack Snyder’s previous films, and to be a part of this epic new IP is really exciting for us.

We can’t speak to specifics around our Rebel Moon game at this time; outside of sharing, the game genre is co-op action.

How do you anticipate continuing on this trajectory going into 2024? Is it likely the team will grow?

We will continue to grow in 2024 as we work on evolving TMNT: Splintered Fate and continue to build our co-op action Rebel Moon and unannounced AAA cross platform titles.

That being said, while there are a lot of exciting projects to work on, we plan to continue to grow methodically and sustainably. We really want to be smart with our growth to protect our culture, continue to hold our talent hiring bar high, and make sure our team size makes sense regarding where our products are concerning their development phases.

How do you feel about the mobile market in general? What big challenges do you feel the industry is facing at the moment?

The mobile market continues to excite us as a driving platform for the games industry. We have noticed a continued challenge in the discoverability of new releases in the market, where long-established market leaders continue to defend their position through excellent live ops services and marketing. This puts more emphasis on bringing innovations and approaches that serve new markets, audiences and motivations. The impact of cross platform launches to help build IP’s has also seen strong success. We hope this will bring a new wave of creativity to the space, and games like Honkai Star Rail, Monster Hunter Now and Stumble Guys point towards an exciting future.

On the flip side of that, is there anything that particularly excites you about the mobile market right now?

Mobile continues to bring in new players and provide the best accessibility to the global gaming community. It is a highly competitive space, but we passionately believe we are uniquely placed to push boundaries within this evolving landscape. Our proprietary EVIL Engine is built to capitalise on delivering true cross-platform experiences across the broadest range of devices. We are activating partnerships with some of the biggest brands in the world to help collaborate on defining meaningful transmedia integrations. We continue to refine our mastery of social, cross-platform, action games that support touch, controller and keyboard and mouse.

Let's touch base on Pocket Gamer Connects London, which takes place in January. It’ll be great to have Super Evil Megacorp there. Why do you think events like this are so important for the industry, and what are you most excited about for the event?

Pocket Gamer Connects has become one of the tentpole events of the UK games industry. It’s a great place to hear about the latest trends in the industry and meet with the people creating them. My favourite part of the event is the serendipity of running into old friends and connections in the industry and hearing about the latest exciting thing they’re building.

Kristian Segerstrale will be hosting a panel this year that will be about allyship and building safe workplaces in games - together with the awesome Gina Jackson OBE.

And finally, is there anything else we should know or be on the lookout for regarding Super Evil Megacorp?

We're continuing to grow our team, take on increasingly ambitious projects, and build out our custom tech that is helping us pioneer new experiences for players. In order to succeed in our goals, we are always looking to bring on new teammates, so we encourage folks to keep an eye on our careers page if they happen to be interested in exploring new career opportunities.

You can also expect some exciting updates in 2024 around our games. At this time I can’t say more than that, but folks can always follow us across our socials to stay tuned for all things related to SEMC.