If I was to describe Supervive in one word, it’d be relentless. Sure, that relates to the gameplay itself – frenetic top-down action that thrusts you into the jungle head-first – but it also describes its meteoric rise to prominence throughout 2024. Fully unveiled back in June, the game has gone from a relative nobody to an internet sensation, taking over X (formerly Twitter) and shattering its own records left, right, and center. While people will tag Palworld or Helldivers 2 as this year’s biggest success stories, Supervive is easily the game that will live in my memory as 2024’s biggest winner.
In an interview with Theorycraft’s CEO Joe Tung (of Halo, Destiny, and League of Legends fame) I ask him about the MOBA‘s performance so far, and whether or not this is what the team was expecting. “No,” he says with a laugh. “Maybe it’s not unique to our company, but a core aspect of our culture is we don’t take anything for granted – none of us think that because we worked on Halo, or Destiny, or League, that we’re entitled to success.
“[Supervive doing well] has never been a certainty for us. We can’t say that we knew this was going to happen, but we did have really strong momentum out of Steam Next Fest, and I think we’ve had a really great creator and go-to-market strategies. But none of that matters if we don’t have a fundamentally fun game.”
And I’d argue that people find Supervive pretty fun. In my own early alpha preview I claimed that it could be the reason I quit League of Legends, and during Steam Next Fest it accrued 16,887 concurrent players. Its since beaten that record, tripling its SNF player count, and hitting the one million lifetime players landmark. For a game that was only fully announced back in June, that’s not half bad.
I ask what it is that Tung thinks is resonating with players, as it’s no secret that battle royale games and MOBAs – the two genres Supervive borrows the most from – have become somewhat impenetrable for newcomers. “We set out to make something that had a ton of depth that would be worthy of thousands of hours of our players’ time, and we wanted to add something new to the conversation,” he tells me.
“Doing those two things at the same time is super, super tricky, because when you’re making something new, the demand isn’t validated, so it’s really risky in that way. But, outside of or in-between genres is also where all the innovation space is. It goes back to players seeing the game, thinking they know what it is, but then playing it and being really surprised by the totally fresh and unique experience that Supervive brings to the table.
“I think we were pretty successful at navigating that tricky problem,” he continues. “There are obviously a bunch of familiar aspects in the game from other genres, but I think we put them together in a way that adds up to something fresh and new – that’s what resonating with players.”
But, in my opinion, what’s helped Supervive skyrocket is the sheer speed at which its moving. From alphas to the Next Fest demo to open beta and an upcoming winter event, the grind hasn’t stopped. I ask Tung how it compares to his triple-A experience, and he smiles.
“We’ve moved super, super fast, and in order to move fast, you sort of have to give up control. Our team has an incredible amount of agency and autonomy – so many things in the game came from people on the team, there wasn’t a master design document. We want to make sure every single patch has an incredible gameplay hook and a reason to come back.
“Everything about the journey has been scrappy and a little cowboy and flying by the seat of our pants.”
For me, however, that’s what makes this game so special – it feels like it’s made by people, for people. A part of that ties into Theorycraft’s social strategy, which appeals to my secret memelord persona. Not only has the team nailed their social voice, but they’ve recruited some of the biggest League of Legends personalities to Supervive’s cause, too. From Tyler ‘Tyler1’ Steinkamp to Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont; all of the big LoL personalities are playing Supervive.
I ask if there’ll be a playful rivalry between the pair going forward, and Tung tells me that the team “has nothing but love and respect for League of Legends, we have so many friends on the team over there. I hope that everyone over there is rooting for us as well – I like to think that we’re in friendly competition now!” I love it when my two favorite games become pals.
If you haven’t tried Theorycraft’s viral MOBA, now’s the time: the Supervive open beta is live right now. All you need to do is head over to Steam to take part.
If you’re looking to read up on the best Hunters ahead of time, check out our Supervive tier list to ensure that you’re dropping into the Breach prepped and ready. Alternatively, if you’re a cosmetic collector, here are all of the current Supervive Twitch drops, and how to claim them.
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