While we often write about launches, shutdowns and sunsets, it’s rare that we get to witness a game coming back from the dead.
But this is precisely what’s happening to former Supercell title Everdale, which was shut down late in 2022 after it “failed to meet expectations”. The move was typical of mobile’s increasingly fast-moving, soft-launch trend for killing of titles that are deemed a draw on resources that could be better placed elsewhere.
The casulaties of such a move are the game’s fans, of course, who – while far smaller in number than those flocking to sister title Clash of Clans – took kindly to Everdale’s calmer, more measured spin on CoC’s universe. The good news for these fans is that Everdale is back. Though in what precise form still remains to be seen.
Moving to Metacore
Mobile game studio Metacore has acquired Everdale from Supercell with the title’s former game lead, Lasse Seppänen commenting “We couldn’t be happier to see Metacore take over Everdale, a very dear game to us. Throughout the development, it became clear to us that this game has a lot of potential and amazing and loyal fans, but, unfortunately, in the end, it wasn’t the right game for Supercell.
“Everdale’s team came up with the idea of finding a new home for the game, and we feel confident in transferring ownership of Everdale to the hands of Metacore’s highly talented team. We have the utmost respect for their game development philosophy and can’t wait to see the next evolution of Everdale.”
Any old…mobile games?
It appears that Everdale could well be in good hands. Metacore are not amateurs, their title Merge Mansion has seen massive success, and it could be that a simple realigning of goals for the title is all that’s required. Finnish giants Supercell always aim high and are extremely discerning about which games they continue to support. Any glimmer of a game not meeting target will come under scrutiny. A good game isn’t always enough, it has to be excellent to exist alongside Clash of Clans.
Alongside less pressurised company Everdale could now have room to thrive. And from Supercell’s perspective, making some revenue from a sale would at least ease the pain of investing time, money and talent for nothing. Everyone’s a winner – including fans of the game.
Details of the deal remain TBC for now and it certainly doesn’t mean Everdale will suddenly reappear on storefronts. It may be possible that we’ll be waiting months and perhaps even years until it comes back and that could be as a rework of the game we knew before, or an entirely new title using the same assets and world.
What’s certain is that this is an interesting wrinkle in the game acquisitions story. Can a new owner turn around a title deemed a failure by its creator? We watch with interest.
