Endless runner games have long been a favourite on mobile phones, with Subway Surfers holding the top spot in many players’ hearts.
Subway Surfers launched in 2012 as part of a wave of single-player endless runner games. Some of the games launched in this wave also include Temple Run and Sonic Dash.
Although it has been part of the mobile gaming world for almost a decade, players are still curious as to its origins and backstory. This largely revolves around an online rumour which suggests the inspiration for Subway Surfers came from a tragic event in the creator’s life. Let’s revisit the founding of Subway Surfers.
What’s the rumoured story behind Subway Surfers?
A rumour about the true story behind Subway Surfers’ creation has been perpetuated on social media. It alleges that the game’s creator made it in honour of his son, who passed away while skating on train tracks.
Another addition to the rumour is that the creator’s son was being chased by police while skateboarding, which led him to be hit by a train.
This rumour seemingly came out of nowhere in the summer of 2020 and quickly took hold. Other players have not been so easily fooled.
One Subway Surfers fan tweeted: “can we talk about how nowhere does it actually say that the creator of subway surfers made it to honour his son who died on the tracks one of y’all just made up that story and everyone ran with it”
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How old were you when you found out the creator of subway surfers made the game in memory of his son who died while skating in the train tracks?
— Pheiruse (@UPheiruse) July 30, 2020
About the Subway Surfers creator
Subway Surfer was created back in 2012 by SYBO Games in collaboration with Kiloo. Both gaming companies are Danish.
The idea for Subway Surfers actually originated earlier. Sylvester Rishøj Jensen and Bodie Jahn-Mulliner founded SYBO in 2010 after winning first prize for best animation movie in 2009. That short film was the origin concept of Subway Surfers.
Mathias Gredel Norvig is cited as the creator of the game, as he is the lead designer. Although it was jointly produced by SYBO and Kiloo, SYBO ended up owning a main portion of Subway Surfers.
Norvig has worked for SYBO as the Managing Director since May 2014. He was promoted to CEO in May 2017, a role he has held since.
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So, what is the true story behind the game?
Well, the story about the Subway Surfers creator’s son is nothing but a rumour; a fake backstory.
In 2018, Norvig spoke at the Pocket Gamer Connects London 2018 summit where he explained how the game was created as a culmination of his love for street art, skateboarding, passion, music and street life.
When the rumour that it was created to honour his alleged late son surfaced, the Subway Surfers official Twitter account took to the internet to clear up these claims.
On 30 July 2020, Subway Surfers tweeted: “We created Subway Surfers to pay homage to street culture and diversity. We feel that the game allows for creativity and fun in a safe and entertaining environment.”
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We created Subway Surfers to pay homage to street culture and diversity. We feel that the game allows for creativity and fun in a safe and entertaining environment. Thanks for running with us!
— Subway Surfers (@sybogames) July 30, 2020
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Subway Surfers is an endless runner arcade game that’s published by SYBO Games. It has remained to be one of the most downloaded and most popular mobile games in the past decade. Though it’s a typical runner game, it offers many things that make it such a fun game to play.
Instead of just running, players will have a chance to use a hoverboard while avoiding obstacles and trying to run away from the grumpy Inspector. The game’s graphics are also much better than a typical endless runner. But one of the things that recently attracted people to this game is the supposedly tragic story behind its creation.
Many people believed that story, which further increased the game’s popularity and drew more people to it. But was it true or not? Let’s discover the truth in this article.
The Tragic Story of Subway Surfers
A viral social media post mentioned that the son of Subway Surfers creator passed away after he was struck by a train. This happened while he was skating along the train tracks. To honor the memory of his son, he created Subway Surfers. It was a tragic story, and many people from all over the world believed it. However, there were no credible sources to back up these claims.
It ended up being a good thing for the game since it resulted in increased interest and downloads. Subway Surfers, though, don’t need it since it’s already a popular and well-liked game. And as much as the tragic story would have been an interesting one for the game, it isn’t true.
The Truth Behind Subway Surfers Creation
To set things straight, Subway Surfers doesn’t have a tragic or inspiring backstory for its creation. The CEO of SYBO, Mathias Gredal, said in 2018 that the game was created when the founders of SYBO started taking an animation course. They were inspired by fashion, urban art, music, and skateboarding, which is why Subway Surfer was born.
And if you look at the game closely, you can see that all of these inspirations and cultures are present. You can see urban art through the graffiti on trains. Street culture is also seen in the background of the game and fashion is showcased in the different skins and outfits that the characters wear.
There wasn’t any mention of a dead son in any of this, which shows the tragic story is nothing but a myth. The game’s developers doubled down on the inspiration for Subway Surfers’ creation with a Tweet. They said that the game was a homage to the diversity and creativity of street culture. They believed that the arcade game allows for a “safe and entertaining environment” for fun and creativity.
Will This Revelation Affect the Game?
Now that the tragic backstory is ruled as a myth, the question is, will it affect the game’s popularity? Will interest eventually die down? To some extent it might. Many of the recent downloads and interest that the game generated was because of the supposed backstory. But now that it’s debunked, some people might instantly lose interest in the game.
But this doesn’t mean that the game will just fall off. Subway Surfers was already popular and well-liked even before the myth was circulated. And there’s a big reason why this is the case, the game is just fun to play.
Subway Surfers is simple to play, but also very challenging to get ahead of. And many people love challenges, so they keep on coming back to see if they can beat their previous score. The developers of the game also made sure that interest in the game won’t just die down. They do this with the many new content and features being introduced to the game constantly. This gives players something to look forward to.
So will people start to lose interest in the game? Yes, there will be some who will likely stop playing the game. But will it have a big impact? Not really, since the game itself is fun to play and the myth will just be an added lore to the popularity of Subway Surfers.
Subway Surfers is one of the most popular games available right now on mobile phone and there’s a bunch of tricks you can deploy to enhance your experience. However, aside from just enjoying the game, lots of people are now asking why Subway Surfers was created, and this is because of a viral tweet which suggested that it was developed because the creator’s son had died.
Although it’s just a mobile game, Subway Surfers remains massively popular to the point where it has even influenced huge IPs onto the mobile market such as Crash Bandicoot On The Run. Lots of people continue to play the mobile game regardless of where they are, so it’s no surprise that it still has a huge following online.
However, what will surprise people is the claims on Twitter that the game was made and created to honour the creator’s son who allegedly died.
Why was Subway Surfers created?
There’s a rumour on Twitter which says that Subway Surfers was created because of the creator’s son passing away.
This rumour suggests that Subway Surfers was created to honour the passing away of the creator’s son, and you can find the viral tweet just below, which has nearly 250,000 likes.
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how old were you when you found out that the creator of subway surfers made the game in memory of his son who died while skating in the train track???
— m ¹ᴰ (@adorebestlads) July 29, 2020
Aside from just claiming why the game was made, the above viral tweet also suggests that the son had died because of a skating accident on a train track.
This supposedly explains why the gameplay is comprised of players dashing around trains and hover-boarding along train tracks.
Subway Surfers: Is the ‘creator’s son died’ a real story?
Lots of people are asking if the Subway Surfers story about the creator’s son is real or not.
People are spreading the rumour about the creator’s son all over Twitter, but the CEO of SYBO Games has previously provided an official reason for why Subway Surfers was made.
Back in 2018, the CEO of SYBO – Mathias Gredal Nørvig – said that it all started when SYBO’s two founders entered animation school and decided to work together because of their passion for geek culture and animation.
Influences for the game included passion, fashion, skate, music, and street art, but no son was ever mentioned.
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