Supercell’s party action mobile game, Squad Busters, has launched globally today with a star-studded commercial featuring Chris Hemsworth, Christina Ricci, Ken Jeong, Will Arnett and Auli’i Cravalho. The launch trailer sees the actors take on the personalities of iconic Supercell game characters that feature in the mobile game giant’s latest smash hit. The launch film and concept was created by Uncommon Creative Studio.
Squad Busters sees players take part in epic 10-person multiplayer matches, building up squads over the course of four-minute rounds and competing against rival players to grab the most gems. The game features characters from across the Supercell universe and is designed to appeal to everyone who has a mobile device - featuring intuitive and inclusive gameplay for both casual players and those looking for more intense, competitive play.
The beginning of the film sees a man woken in his bed by Masked Singer’s Ken Jeong, starring as an eccentric Chicken, and seeing five characters from Squad Busters surrounding him. Hemsworth features as the mighty Barbarian King, alongside Ricci’s dark presence as Witch, Arnett as friendly lumberjack Greg and Cravalho as the sweet, shotgun-wielding Shelly.
The celebrity squad then embark on their mission to bring fun to their player’s life; following him from morning to night. In a series of comical scenes, directed by Jody Hill, the cast accompany our gamer to a job interview, into a toilet cubicle, and cram inside a car to give a Carpool Karaoke-style rendition of Nickelback classic ‘How You Remind Me’.
The Hollywood gang, while quipping about Ricci’s skeleton-summoning staff, encounter another player’s squad whose characters are played by Internet sensations including TikTok superstar Bella Poarch as Witch, real-life woodcutter Thoren Bradley as Greg, lip-syncing legend Gabriela Moura as Shelly and YouTube extraordinaire ZHC as Chicken.
In a knowing wink to the viewer, Seth Phillips, better known as Dude With Sign, makes a brief cameo during the battle to ‘appeal to a younger audience’.
Squad Busters is Supercell’s first global game launch in over five years and has been highly anticipated. According to the company’s internal analysis and as of today, the game has achieved 40 million pre-registrations*, making it the fastest ever mobile game to reach that milestone. This blew away Supercell’s internal targets for the launch, with the company anticipating the game to follow in the footsteps of its previous hits - Hay Day, Clash of Clans, Boom Beach, Clash Royale and Brawl Stars - by generating more than $1bn in lifetime revenue.
Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell, said, “After an incredible response to the global announcement of Squad Busters, we’re thrilled that players worldwide will all now be able to enjoy the game! Our game teams have a massively high-quality bar for releasing new games, which on the flip side means they kill most of the games they work on. This has meant we haven’t launched a new game for over five years. That’s why this moment, the launch of Squad Busters, feels so special! I want to thank the Squad team for their amazing work, which has led to releasing a new, incredibly fun game for our players worldwide to play.”
“To mark this launch, our team wanted to create a show-stopping moment, so it felt fitting to have Hollywood icons face off against social media stars in a fun way, showing that life really is more fun when you’re with a squad!”