In August 2024, SYBO, the game studio behind the most downloaded mobile game of all time, Subway Surfers, launched a limited-edition “Veggie Hunt” game mode, aiming to encourage players to eat a more environmentally friendly diet. The event was developed to support the Playing for the Planet Alliance’s 2024 Green Game Jam, an annual initiative that encourages studios to embed sustainability themes into games.
Engaging Subway Surfers’ 150 million monthly global players, Veggie Hunt inspired gamers to adopt sustainable lifestyle habits by incorporating more vegetable-based meals into their diet, and raising awareness of the environmental benefits of consuming less animal products. The specific goals of the campaign were to:
Execution: The project began with a company-wide call to support this year’s Green Game Jam, bringing together diverse teams from across the studio and generating a highly collaborative and energetic environment. Over 30 employees from different departments and crafts took part in a full-day workshop, pitching ideas centered around food, waste, and restoration. From these ideas, Veggie Hunt was selected for its clear focus on community engagement through fresh and entertaining gameplay mechanics and its ability to serve as a vehicle to inspire real-world change.
Key Features: Veggie Hunt was integrated as a limited-time event within Subway Surfers’ existing gameplay systems. Players were challenged to collect various vegetable ingredients such as tomatoes, avocados, lettuce heads, and more across multiple modes such as Season Hunt, Floor is Lava, Mystery Boxes, and Core Runs. When players collected all of the ingredients needed to create a full veggie burger, they unlocked a new vegetable-themed playable character, Billy Bean. To further educate players on the immense environmental impact of eating more meat-free meals, educational facts about sustainable diets were embedded organically throughout the game to raise greater awareness – without interrupting gameplay.
Beyond the game itself, SYBO additionally activated its social media channels with a cross-platform reach of more than 30 million followers. SYBO encouraged players to take real-world action and implement the learnings from the in-game event into their daily lives by sharing their own favorite meat-free recipes and recreations of the “Veggie Hunt” sandwich on social media. The more videos the Subway Surfers community shared, the more collective in-game rewards were unlocked, creating a community-driven call to action. To amplify the message and inspire wider audiences, SYBO also partnered with three vegan content creators who developed their favorite veggie burger recipes for the event.
Challenges: Designing Veggie Hunt posed a unique set of challenges. It introduced a multi-step quest across several game modes, a departure from Subway Surfers’ usual single-mode challenges. The team also wrestled with how to balance an ambitious, action-oriented goal with accessible entry points that would motivate players of all levels. Additionally, translating environmental messaging into content that felt authentic to the light-hearted game, age-appropriate, and globally resonant required careful consideration.
To address these challenges, SYBO introduced both active and passive ways for players to participate, ensuring that no one felt excluded by the event. The team leaned into social activations, creator partnerships, and in-game rewards to redirect attention and keep engagement high. This thoughtful balance between a fun and educational experience not only boosted participation rates but also made Veggie Hunt one of the most positively received Subway Surfers events of the year.
The Veggie Hunt campaign successfully met SYBO’s objectives by engaging a vast portion of Subway Surfers’ global playerbase with an accessible, fun gameplay experience that seamlessly integrated sustainability messaging. Over the three-week activation period, over 80% of eligible players – coming out to around 37 million players – actively engaged with the event, demonstrating strong resonance and accessibility of the campaign within the existing game ecosystem.
Across social media, SYBO’s vegan content creator partnerships generated over 600,000 views across the three creators’ channels alone. SYBO additionally garnered more than 15 million views through its owned content across Subway Surfers’ official social platforms, reaching more than 17 million fans in total across Instagram, X, Facebook, and TikTok.
Subway Surfers’ community’s response to Veggie Hunt was overwhelmingly positive, with the new character Billy Bean emerging as a standout fan favorite. Earning nearly 60,000 player votes as the season’s most popular new content offering, Billy Bean shows how the campaign fostered emotional connection alongside environmental awareness.
By weaving sustainability into the core gameplay in a way that felt organic and fun, the Veggie Hunt event demonstrated Subway Surfers’ unique ability to go beyond entertainment and spark real-world change. The event proved that when impactful values are integrated in a way that feels authentic to the existing game, studios can have the ability to rally millions of players around a shared mission for global good.
