Metacore buys Everdale, the mobile city builder scrapped by Supercell

gamedeveloper.com:

Merge Mansion developer Metacore has purchased Everdale from Supercell and will attempt to revive the mobile title.

Everdale was scrapped by Supercell in October last year ahead of its global launch, with the Finnish company explaining the casual city builder failed to meet its expectations.

Now, however, the title will be given a new lease of life by Metacore, which believes Supercell actually managed to create the framework for a "hit game."

"With Everdale, the canvas isn’t the least bit blank. On the contrary, there are a variety of the building blocks for a hit game in place, from the game’s vivid world and striking scenery to the strong community that’s formed—and persisted!—around the game. And I think it goes without saying that we wouldn’t expect anything less from a Supercell game," wrote the studio.

Metacore said that expanding through acquisitions wasn't part of its growth strategy, but that working on a project like Everdale was something it couldn't turn down. The company added that it'll be approaching production in the same way it would any other project in a bid to test how well its development process works on an existing title.

"Right now, our team is delving into Everdale's market-fit, forming and testing various hypotheses about why existing audiences love the game, and experimenting with ways to further expand that audience," it continued.

"How objectively will we be able to set and explore new hypotheses, forming our own vision of the game? What will it take to dismantle such a full world and reassemble it into something that could look completely different? In many ways, Everdale is a new kind of test for our game development process."

Although it sounds optimistic about Everdale's future, Metacore