Subway Surfers City just hit 10 million downloads in 3 weeks — but is it actually a good business?

We tear apart Sybo's long-awaited follow-up to one of the most downloaded games in history. We break down the gameplay, the surprisingly advanced (and stingy) economy, Felix's obsession with the ad placements, and why the UA setup is basically a ghost town despite having MiniClip's full weight behind it.

After 5+ years of development in Denmark and a soft launch back in July 2024, Subway Surfers City finally went global — but the numbers are already declining. Is this a profitable sequel or a $20K/day money pit that'll never recoup its dev costs?

Topics covered:

Game breakdown: gacha system, hoverboards, shard economy, modes & daily trials

Ad monetization deep dive: 8 rewarded ads/day cap, ad boxes, interstitials done right

Why Felix wants to sell you a subscription to watch MORE ads

Revenue reality: ~$100K/day total, DAU at 730K and shrinking

UA analysis: 51 creatives, mostly Facebook, no AdROAS, no AppLovin — why?

The organic trap: can Subway Surfers City ever escape the shadow of the original?

Cross-promo mystery: 16M monthly downloads next door and zero funnel into City

Was this game worth building at all?

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This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.

Panelists: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jakub Remia⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠r,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Felix Braberg, Matej Lancaric⁠

Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-3bckldvr8-8PXvzciMWdheOzED9hq0SA

Chapters

00:00 intro

02:38 Game overview – What is Subway Surfers City?

04:13 Background – Sybo, MiniClip, and the original game

05:49 Monetization model – IAPs vs. the original's ad-only approach

06:26 Ad placements deep dive – Rewarded ads, revives, doubler

07:32 Economy breakdown – Shard gacha, currencies, and the 8-ad daily cap

21:13 Felix's wild idea – Pay to watch MORE ads

22:07 Interstitial placement & eCPM balance

23:37 Numbers – Downloads, DAU, revenue

26:14 Revenue reality – $20K/day IAP, ~$100K/day total

31:03 UA breakdown – 51 creatives, Facebook only, no AdROAS

33:05 Why is the UA so weak? MiniClip, earn-outs, LTV issues

36:06 Cross-promo – Why isn't Subway Surfers 1 pushing City?

39:10 Final verdict – Was this game worth making?

Matej Lancaric

User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant

⁠https://lancaric.me

Felix Braberg

Ad monetization consultant

⁠https://www.felixbraberg.com

Jakub Remiar

Game design consultant

⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar

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Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me

Subway Surfers City: Sybo built the Best Ad Placements in Mobile Gaming, then forgot to run UA

two &amp; a half gamers

two & a half gamers