Keep Knowledgeable
Get Trade Information In Your Inbox…
Signal Up At present
The Dubai Sport Expo Summit powered by Pocket Gamer Connects returns on Might seventh to eighth 2025, providing an opportunity to realize insights into the world’s fastest-growing video games market, MENA.
Take a look at extra tales from PocketGamer.biz’s MENA Month particular, the place we interview the highest firms and delve into the funding panorama, proper right here.
Steer Studios is making its international debut with Grunt Rush, a brand new cellular motion recreation constructed by a staff of largely first-time builders. The title has surpassed half one million downloads since its mushy launch and is now rolling out worldwide for Android and iOS.
The sport was first conceived throughout an inside pitch competitors tied to a developer coaching program and has since grown into Steer’s flagship launch.
We caught up with Steer Studios CEO Yannick Theler to debate the sport’s improvement, challenges of constructing a studio, and expectations for the title.
PocketGamer.biz: The place did the preliminary thought for Grunt Rush come from?
Yannick Theler: We ceaselessly maintain inside recreation pitching competitions the place staff brainstorm future undertaking concepts. Whereas we don’t maintain these competitions on a regular basis, this explicit pitch was a part of the coaching program for our first cohort of Saudi builders.
As a part of the method, the staff carried out market analysis and analysed totally different viewers segments. For us as recreation builders, neighborhood insights and market wants take precedence – we try to put aside private preferences as a way to construct video games that resonate with our gamers.
How lengthy did improvement take, and the way many individuals labored on the sport?
The event of Grunt Rush started simply over a 12 months in the past, with a mean of round 20 individuals engaged on the undertaking in whole.
What was one of many largest challenges you confronted on the undertaking, and the way did you overcome it?
There have been a number of challenges that we confronted all through our improvement course of, primarily bringing collectively a model new staff with out prior expertise working collectively, and a majority of junior staff members.
We juggled coaching the staff, constructing manufacturing pipelines, and growing the sport abruptly, while steadily bringing in consultants all through manufacturing to help.
We ensured to herald sturdy core values to set the muse from day one by way of TRADE (Teamwork, Accountable Perspective, Adherence, Dedication, and Effectivity) while setting a transparent long-term imaginative and prescient by way of ELITE (Empowerment, Management, Creativeness, Teamwork, Empathy) defining the vacation spot and guiding Steer Studios’ future.
What made you assured to launch the sport globally, and what are your expectations for the title?
We’ve been steadily monitoring key person metrics all through the mushy launch part, accumulating person suggestions and knowledge on how they interact with the sport to help our optimisation efforts.
“Offline play is an important characteristic that can permit our gamers to have the ability to proceed their Grunt Rush journey uninterrupted.”Yannick Theler
We reached a stage the place we had been comfy with our key efficiency indicators (KPIs), making it clear that we had been lastly able to launch the sport to a world viewers.
Final time, you talked about integrating over 60% of recent expertise. Did you must prepare the brand new staff internally? How did you steadiness that with constructing the sport and studio?
At Steer, we’re actually proud to have such a various staff of expertise from all corners of the globe, with our staff of almost 100 representing 22 nationalities, of which 50% are Saudi nationals, alongside a variety of expertise.
Our ELITE Internship Program has helped us determine a few of Saudi Arabia’s high expertise, with former interns now making up 15% of our staff and thriving in roles the place they’ll actually shine.
By having this big selection of expertise and information, our staff who’re newer to the business have obtained very good coaching that has helped them ship true worth to our improvement course of, and has additionally set them up for future success in our upcoming initiatives.
Grunt Rush may be performed offline, which isn’t all the time frequent in cellular video games these days. Why was this an essential characteristic so that you can embrace?
Offline play is an important characteristic that can permit our gamers to have the ability to proceed their Grunt Rush journey uninterrupted. Whether or not that’s as a result of they’re on a aircraft, travelling by way of a tunnel, or their community supplier is experiencing service points, we needed to make sure that there have been no boundaries when it got here to enjoying.
“Every time is a brand new experiment: you make errors, you be taught, and typically you want to unlearn. With each iteration, you enhance and refine the method.”Yannick Theler
The sport has amassed half one million downloads. How does this milestone examine to your preliminary expectations? Have been there any surprises in how the sport carried out?
Half one million is a major achievement and one which has undoubtedly exceeded our expectations after we first started our mushy launch interval. It makes us much more optimistic about the way forward for Grunt Rush, and we’re tremendous excited for the journey forward.
For you, what has been probably the most shocking facet of launching a recreation globally from Saudi Arabia?
The eagerness and expertise inside Saudi Arabia have stood out to me from the second I began to construct Steer Studios simply over three years in the past. This can be a nation filled with passionate avid gamers and people who’ve important potential in changing into the following technology of nice builders, designers, you identify it.
Trying again, what’s one lesson you discovered about staff constructing that you just’d apply in a different way in future initiatives?
I’ve been constructing groups throughout Europe, China, and the Center East for almost 20 years – all the time ranging from a clean web page. Every time is a brand new experiment: you make errors, you be taught, and typically you want to unlearn. With each iteration, you enhance and refine the method.
“Studying the onerous method all the time teaches you greater than staying in your consolation zone.”Yannick Theler
What made this journey particularly difficult was not solely constructing the manufacturing staff, but additionally establishing all our supporting capabilities from the bottom up, whereas establishing the infrastructure, recruiting, and beginning recreation improvement. All the pieces occurred concurrently.
However these early, hard-earned classes have laid the muse. Future cohorts and groups will profit from this expertise. Studying the onerous method all the time teaches you greater than staying in your consolation zone.
Are there any upcoming initiatives you are notably enthusiastic about? What’s subsequent for Steer Studios?
Nothing we are able to reveal but, however we’ve a brand new recreation being soft-launched later this 12 months. Alongside this, Grunt Rush will see new options added by way of a sequence of updates, with new content material and particular occasions.
