Savvy's Steer Studios expands into console development

• In a step alongside mobile, Steer Studios is building a console division
• Steer is a subsidiary of Savvy Games Group, meant to explore new territory within the industry

Savvy Games Group subsidiary Steer Studios is looking to broaden its video gaming horizons with a new console division.

Work began on building the new team at the start of the year. While no upcoming projects within it have yet been announced, Steer Studios CEO Yannick Theler has also shared with us a teaser that "a second project" at the developer is in the works.

Whether ultimately a mobile or console game, that second project will follow in the footsteps of Grunt Rush, Steer’s debut strategy game released in soft launch this April on India’s Play Store.

Branching out

One of Savvy Games Group’s internal development teams, Steer is situated in Saudi Arabia and launched only in 2023. The studio has ambitions to make the Arab world’s first blockbuster game and to support the next generation of talent in the region.

The team is headed by Theler, who brings close to two decades of experience from Ubisoft; he established the French publisher’s Abu Dhabi studio in 2011.

The broadening from mobile to console already - only one year into Steer Studios’ existence - speaks to the increasingly saturated mobile market where downloads are falling for the first time. Even in India, Grunt Rush's soft launch region, app downloads have fallen 9% year-on-year.

Savvy Games Group hopes to see Steer stand as "a beacon of innovation" and explore new territory within the industry; in the current market, diversification across platforms seems a natural progression of this vision.

Speaking with us ahead of Pocket Gamer Connects Jordan 2024, Theler revealed: "Steer Studios isn't limited to arcade games like Grunt Rush. We aspire to develop a diverse range of games across various platforms, including consoles.

"In fact, we started building our console division at the beginning of this year. While we can't disclose specifics about our upcoming projects yet, we are excited to share that we are also working on a second project."

Since Steer Studios elected to expand into console, global downloads for newer mobile releases have actually seen something of an improvement.

According to Sensor Tower’s latest report, Wood Nuts & Bolts Puzzle saw a meteoric rise into the top 10 most downloaded games in Q1 2024, up from 306 to number seven, suggesting mobile success isn’t limited to veterans like Roblox and Candy Crush after all.

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