Tactile Entertainment wants to join Supercell, Rovio, and King as a Nordic mobile-gaming wonder (interview)

Something must be in the water, or ice, in the Nordic region. Mobile gaming publishers from Scandinavia like Rovio (Angry Birds), Supercell (Clash of Clans), and King (Candy Crush Saga) have found enormous success. So Tactile Entertainment, based on Copenhagen, Denmark, wants to be the next mobile gaming leader.

If there’s a lesson in mobile games, anything can happen. The gaming world is truly global, and that’s the theme of our upcoming GamesBeat 2014 conference.

Tactile Entertainment debuted in 2009, and it has produced hits like Chasing Yello and Skyline Skaters. The studio said that Chasing Yello has been downloaded more than 20 million times and played more than 400 million times. Even with so many downloads, the odds are small that an indie studio like Tactile can crack into the inner circle of mobile game leaders.

But they’re going to try, starting with Airheads Jump, a game that debuts today. Here’s an edited interview with Asbjoern Soendergaard, the chief executive and founder of Tactile Entertainment. He’s the next man who would be king.

Above: Asbjoern Soendergaard of Tactile Entertanment.

Image Credit: Tactile

GamesBeat: How did you get Tactile off the ground?

Asbjoern Soendergaard: We started Tactile in 2009, after we had all fallen in love with the very first iPhone. We saw a fantastic opportunity to make innovative gameplay and new IP in a market not dominated by traditional publishers. Initially we bootstrapped and worked as consultants, but after the release of our first game, Pocket Creatures, we’ve been cashflow positive and able to grow from that base.

GamesBeat: What’s the environment like for game development there?

Soendergaard: We are based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Nordic region has been a significant influencer when it comes to mobile games, with companies like Supercell, King and Rovio taking the lead. Even though it’s increasingly difficult to break into the mobile games market now compared to just a few years ago, I sense a huge optimism in the development community here – people are completely focused on the fantastic opportunities still in the market. There is a fantastic talent pool here in Copenhagen, which gives us a great opportunity to grow in the current market. I believe that many more big mobile gaming hits will come from our region going forward.

Above: Airheads Jump

Image Credit: Tactile Entertainment

GamesBeat: How large is the team, and what experience does it have?

Soendergaard: We are a very small, lean company, with a team of 12 people. All of us are game industry veterans who have done high profile console and PC games before switching to mobile. As we head into a more mature state in the evolution of mobile gaming, it’s really beginning to pay off to have worked on larger scale productions before. So I feel that we are extremely well positioned to accelerate our growth going forward.

Catch us up to speed on how well Chasing Yello and Tactile (in general) has done, in addition to just download numbers. Any other success metrics you can provide?
Chasing Yello (2012) and Skyline Skaters (2014) are our two most recent releases. Since release, Chasing Yello has been downloaded more than 20 million times and played more than 400 million times by a loyal fan base, and we currently have a new Yello game in the works. Both games have outperformed our expectations and helped us to develop a formula for creating highly entertaining, casual, free-to-play games.

GamesBeat: Why did Chasing Yello and Skyline Skaters do so well?

Soendergaard: First of all both games have the casual visual appeal that does well with the mainstream audience of the App Store. Both are also extremely easy to get into — the gameplay is very simple but at the same time hard to master. On top of that I think it shows how much production love and polish we have put into these games. There are so many options in the App Store now, so the only way to truly stand out is to give your games sensational polish. Besides that, I think both games give high value to all players, regardless of if they spend money on in-app purchases or not, which is key to providing everybody with a great experience and a reason to share that experience with friends.

GamesBeat: Are you only focused on mobile, or do you have interest in developing for other platforms?

Soendergaard: There are so many opportunities right now that we could not possibly pursue all of them. We are a small team and we would like to stay relatively small and agile, so it makes sense for us to focus exclusively on tablets and smartphones. Although you can make a port that works in theory, if you don’t give each platform extensive attention then you will end up with a substandard game.

GamesBeat: How do you get inspired for some of these game concepts?

Soendergaard: There is no one source of inspiration. We are of course inspired by the games we play and animated films we watch. We have a new game launching globally (today) called Airheads Jump, published by Crazy Labs, and that concept started out as a fun gameplay prototype of a ball jumping. Then one of our artists started playing around with having something as simple as a ball for a character, and eventually created the amazing Airheads backstory and setting that you’ll see in the final game.

GamesBeat: Can you tell us more about why Airheads Jump is your next game and where it fits in the overall mobile marketplace?

Soendergaard: There have been a number of really cool jumpers, Doodle Jump, for instance, in the past. But I think that Airheads Jump shows that there is much more fun to be found with this type of gameplay. I believe that we take the genre to a new level — both in terms of visual polish and in terms of gameplay improvements.