Of all the mobile games ever released, none of them is as popular as Subway Surfers. The iconic endless runner has put up 4.5 billion downloads since its initial release in 2012. After 14 years of unprecedented success, developer SYBO Games is ready to turn the page with the release of a sequel, Subway Surfers City.
SYBO says the game is set to launch on Feb. 26, and it’s available for preregistration on Google Play and iOS right now. SYBO also released a cinematic trailer showing off some new characters and environments.
The sequel features a new metropolis location with four districts to play through at launch, including The Docks, Southline, Sunrise Blvd and Delorean Park, along with four new characters. SYBO says that fresh content will be released every season, including new parts of the city to explore and a variety of cosmetic goodies to unlock.
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Based on the game’s screenshots, SYBO isn’t deviating too much from the core ideas of the original game, showing characters getting spotted, adding graffiti to a subway tunnel and mercilessly chased by The Guard and his dog until they’re caught.
Subway Surfers City will have several new mechanics that aren’t recycled from the old game, including a stomp mechanic that’ll unlock secrets and alternate paths.
The game also adds some new modes, including a finite runner mode where you can tour through the various environments to achieve specific goals, and an Events mode that will challenge you to a rotating gauntlet of missions. The Classic Endless mode makes its return to the new game, as does the ability to play the game offline, two things players loved about the original Subway Surfers.
Subway Surfers City will be free to play with in-app purchases, just like its predecessor.
Subway Surfers City gameplay looks very similar to the first game and will feature most of the same elements.
Some big shoes to fill
Releasing a sequel that’s as beloved as the original will be tough, and SYBO has its work cut out for it. The original Subway Surfers was released in 2012, and while it’s not necessarily known for popularizing the genre of endless runner (that title goes to Temple Run), it quietly took over as the de facto leader in the genre.
Angry Birds was the first mobile franchise to surpass 1 billion downloads, a feat it accomplished in 2012 across its various games. Subway Surfers was the first to do it in a single game, accomplishing the feat in 2015. It later became the first game to hit 1 billion on the Google Play Store in 2018. It was likely the first game to hit 2 billion downloads, and was definitely the first to hit 3 billion and 4 billion. No other mobile game has ever reached 4 billion downloads.
According to SYBO, Subway Surfers has amassed 4.5 billion downloads as of Jan. 2026 and still boasts millions of monthly active players, despite being nearly a decade and a half old.
Its popularity has remained steady in modern times after many creators started using Subway Surfers gameplay as b-roll in their TikTok videos, a tactic that has been repeated by a professor at the University of California, San Diego during his lectures, which caused his registration rates to skyrocket. Starbucks got in on it with a game that had players collect Starbucks coffee cups for prizes.
Over two dozen companies and celebrities have done events for the game, including Demi Lovato, Walmart, the NFL Players Association and, arguably most famously, Burger King, which helped the game celebrate its 10th birthday with the Burger King Challenge. The prize for that challenge was unlocking the Burger King himself.
There aren’t many niches in gaming where Subway Surfers isn’t present. On top of its massive amount of downloads and use in social media videos, Subway Surfers is also one of the most popular games of all time for speedrunners, and by far the most popular such game for mobile.
The shoes the sequel needs to fill couldn’t be larger, but SYBO believes it’s up to the challenge.
“At its core, Subway Surfers City is the next chapter of Subway Surfers’ nearly 15-year-long legacy,” said Mathias Gredal Nørvig, CEO of SYBO. “Subway Surfers City stars reimagined fan-favorite characters, while simultaneously introducing never-before-seen content and mechanics. It’s a balance of the classic game our players know and love, with a fresh vibrancy that brings the crew’s universe to life in a whole new way.”
