What is even more interesting is that the development of the cult franchise continues in Serbia, in the company Playstudos Europe. They opened their offices in Belgrade last year, news of going public on NASDAQ soon followed, and this is another major update that has recently been published.
We talked to Nikola Mitić, General Manager of Playstudios Europe, about the plans for the project and how everything will affect the further development of the local gaming ecosystem.
SGA: Will the entire Tetris project be developed exclusively at Playstudios Europe?
Nikola: As PLAYSTUDIOS Tel Aviv and Playstudios Europe (Belgrade) have been closely cooperating since the founding of the Belgrade studio, this will continue through Tetris. This will be the third mobile game we are working on together, and besides Tetris, these are Pop! Slots and MGM Live.
SGA: How important is it for the local gaming ecosystem that the much-loved and well-known franchise continues to develop in Belgrade?
Nikola: PLAYSTUDIOS has been granted exclusive rights to develop and publish the Tetris game franchise for mobile devices and will continue to operate and advance the current Tetris mobile products while developing new and improved versions of the game. This will provide teams in Serbia with a deeper insight into the legendary title and give them the opportunity to make an impact on the further development of this franchise. Not so many people in the world have had the opportunity to work on this title and will influence its future.
Newly created jobs and opportunities for further training at Playstudios Europe will also contribute to the local ecosystem. To meet the development needs of Tetris, we have opened a large number of positions from Concept Art, UI / UX to Game Developer and QA.
SGA: What are the further plans for the development of Tetris?
Nikola: Through further development of Tetris, we want to create a completely new experience for Tetris franchise fans and integrate all this with our playAWARDS platform. With the help of playAWARDS, players have the opportunity to receive “real world” rewards by playing our games and this further affects the satisfaction and increases retention. The design of the new game will draw inspiration from the leading formats of casual games and adapt the tested features and mechanics that will introduce Tetris on mobile devices to a new era.
On this occasion, Andrew Pascal, founder and CEO of PLAYSTUDIOS, said that breaking into the puzzle genre with a well-known brand such as Tetris fits perfectly into their strategy. The current Tetris mobile app that N3twork introduced in 2020, has has generated approximately 30 million downloads to date. The team faces an interesting challenge both technically and creatively. We can’t wait to see how our members will contribute to the rich history of one of the most famous games in the world.