Squad Busters releases globally tomorrow… But is it REALLY the next big thing?

• Supercell’s Squad Busters has generated over $2 million during pre-launch
• Squad Busters will be Supercell's sixth game to reach full release

Supercell’s Squad Busters has been the hot topic of recent weeks, ever since it entered soft launch in April (and perhaps even before). Now that soft launch period is coming to an end, with global release scheduled for tomorrow, May 29th, 2024.

The game is Supercell’s first in five years to make it this far - the studio having become synonymous with axeing titles it believes wouldn’t be successful enough under full launch conditions.

So, just how well has Squad Busters performed through its pre-release period? Why does this game, of all trialled Supercell games, have the greenlight?

Super strategy

In short, Squad Busters has made money: $2.04 million, by AppMagic’s estimates. While far from Clash of Clans numbers ($79 million in the same timeframe), this is still no mean feat for a game that isn’t even fully released yet.

Those analytics also indicate 5.25 million people have already downloaded Squad Busters, meanwhile Supercell has confirmed over 30 million pre-registrations for the global version so far. Tactfully, pre-registrations are being encouraged with the promise of rewards not only in Squad Busters, but in pre-established Supercell titles too. And the more people register for Squad Busters, the greater those rewards become.

Supercell’s target is 40 million pre-registrations - the same as HoYoverse’s upcoming Zenless Zone Zero - and games due to benefit from this include all of Supercell’s fully released, active games: Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars, Boom Beach, Clash Royale, and Hay Day. Plus Squad Busters itself, naturally.

In the home straight

With 30 million pre-registrations surpassed, Squad Busters rewards currently include 10,000 coins, El Tigre, three chests, and an exclusive emote. If 40 million can be reached by tomorrow, players will also receive an exclusive decoration. And that decoration will also appear in all other games supported through the promotion - a further advertising boost.

Of its soft-launch territories, Squad Busters’ largest audience is Mexico, representing 44% of downloads. 29% of players come from Spain and 11% from Canada. Yet the latter is currently the biggest spender, with players in Canada contributing 29% of earnings (approximately $600,000) since April 24th.

Matching its downloads ranking, Spain comes second through the soft-launch period, having contributed 26% of earnings (approximately $530,000), while Mexico ranks third at only 17% (approximately $350,000).

Squad Busters has also made some pocket change from Singapore, Finland, Sweden and the US, but now that it stands on the precipice of full release, Supercell has brought forth a star cast for yet another promotional push. From Ken Jeong to Chris Hemsworth, it seems just about everyone’s getting ready to play.

This article is part of our Road to Helsinki series, where we put the spotlight on the Finnish and Nordic games industries ahead of Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki on October 1st and 2nd.