Merge Mayor developer StarBerry Games goes all-in on AI

Merge Mayor developer StarBerry Games is going all-in on AI for production new building new experiences.

The company was founded in 2017 and currently employs 20 staff and has worked on games such as Idle Coffee Shop and its flagship puzzle title Merge Mayor. According to AppMagic estimates, the 2021 release has garnered nearly $20 million across the App Store and Google Play to date.

StarBerry CEO and co-founder Antti Hattara said the industry stands at an inflection point as development costs rise and player expectations grow. He claimed that AI tech has crossed the threshold from novelty and into a “genuine multiplier” for creative teams.

The studio has enacted a cultural shift as an AI-first company through AI slack channels to share news, learnings and discussions; AI knowledge sharing at weekly meetings; and quarterly AI Jams where the entire team builds prototypes in a single day.

Hattara said for its next title - set for soft launch in early 2026 - the studio will use AI in several aspects of production, including art asset production, development tools, and marketing creatives. 

“Instead of waiting weeks for asset pipelines, we’re generating and iterating on art at unprecedented speed,” he said.

“Our artists direct AI tools to explore variations, test themes and produce assets that would have required entire teams just a few years ago. This doesn’t replace our artists, it amplifies them, letting them focus on creative direction while AI handles execution.”

"Deliberately scrappy"

StarBerry is also exploring building games that couldn’t exist without AI tech.

“Our approach is deliberately scrappy: build quick prototypes in one to two weeks, test them with real users, learn fast and move on,” said Hattara.

“We’ve already seen validation of this approach. StarBerry Game Designer Sven Schmid took number one place in the recent AI Hackathon by Supercell with his project Datagotchi, a clever twist on virtual pets powered by AI.

"We’ve also launched our first prototype from this track: King Maker, a game that experiments with AI-driven gameplay in ways traditional design couldn’t achieve.”

Hattara claimed that the studio is “clear-eyed” on the challenges ahead.

“While AI tools are powerful, they’re not perfect,” he stated. “They require new workflows, new skills and new ways of thinking about production. True AI games face even steeper challenges: they’re completely new to players and there is no defined genre or corresponding player expectations.

“But the opportunity is too significant to ignore.”

Learn more about how developers are utilising AI in games at Pocket Gamer Connects London 2026 on January 19th to 20th.