Subway Surfers company SYBO has appointed Niklas Orup as its new game director for the popular arcade game.

Before joining SYBO, Orup worked at King for over seven years where he held three different positions: head of game for Bubble Witch 3 Saga, senior producer, experimentation group, and business manager.

The new boss of the world's most downloaded endless runner also has experience working at Hero Gaming as a game producer (nine months) and Mobile Loyalty Holding AB as director of business & product development (one year).

A warm welcome

“I'm joining an incredibly talented and friendly team and I can't wait for all the great things we will create together! Mathias Gredal Nørvig and David Byrne, thanks for trusting in me and for the warm welcome to the SYBO family!," Orup wrote on LinkedIn.

“I'm so thrilled, grateful and humbled for the opportunity to work with such an iconic mobile game, the world's top endless runner with over four billion total downloads worldwide!" he adds.

Orup went on to emphasize how he first arrived at King Malmö studio 11 years ago, and that it has been a life-changing experience. “So much fun, so much learning and so many fantastic people that I got to collaborate with over the years. Thanks King and everyone I had the chance to meet and work with there!"

“Bringing a wealth of experience in F2P games, we can't think of anyone better to help guide Subway Surfers as we level up even further," said SYBO.

Sybo also recently brought back the Craft-a-Character competition to mark Subway Surfers' 12th anniversary. The endless runner, popular for its street culture appeal, now includes augmented reality elements for players to superimpose characters onto real landscapes.