SuperPlay’s CEO on launching Disney Solitaire and delivering back-to-back hits

Stay Informed

Get Industry News In Your Inbox…

Sign Up Today

Disney is getting the solitaire treatment in a new collaboration with SuperPlay as the developer launches Disney Solitaire today, a fresh take on the TriPeaks card game genre.

SuperPlay, famous for its Dice Dreams and Domino Dreams games, was aquired by Playtika for up to $2 billion last year. Disney Solitaire marks its third game launch and its first use of a major licence, and has attract one million pre-registrations ahead of release.

We sat down with SuperPlay CEO and founder Gilad Almog to discuss how the partnership with Disney came to life, what it took to blend beloved IPs with card gameplay, and why this might be its biggest game yet.

PocketGamer.biz: What sparked the idea for a solitaire game internally, and how did the Disney license partnership come about? 

Gilad Almog: We’ve been looking at the Solitaire category since we started the company. A couple of months after we launched Dice Dreams, Disney approached us with the idea to collaborate on something. 

We already had Solitaire in mind as something we can compete in and create a good game. So we offered it and started discussing, and that’s how the idea came to life. 

What has it been like working with a licensing partner like Disney. How does that compare to working independently on your own IP?

While working independently, we didn’t really need approval for anything except from ourselves. Disney’s IP has been around for about 100 years or so. They have their opinions and rules about the IP, and it took us a while to get the flow. 

We were kind of concerned at first because we are very fast in the way we operate. We thought that it would be difficult but it’s not. They’re great partners. They learn how to work with us and we learn how to work with them, and it’s now basically like our other projects.

How long did development take and how many people worked on the game?

It started in January 2024, so we’re now 16 months into it which is super quick. Now we’re a studio of about 70 people. 

Some publishers struggle to launch successful new games, so why is SuperPlay confident in releasing two titles in recent years, including Domino Dreams and now Disney Solitaire?

First of all you’re right, we’re one of the only companies to create two back-to-back hit games, which is very rare today. It’s so hard to have even one success but we have two. 

I think we’re very good at picking the ideas and choosing the games that we want to work on and are very good at executing. With this genre, we have the turbo of the Disney IP, which gives us even more confidence that we’re going to succeed with it. 

Why do you think Disney Solitaire met the bar for launch? And how does SuperPlay approach new game development – from idea to greenlight? 

It’s a top-down approach. Ideas come from management and from founders. We don’t have many ideas – you know, in six years we’ve developed three games and there’s actually no greenlighting process because once we do the research and we believe in a game, we are all in. 

We don’t develop something not to launch it. We develop something to go all in and make it a top-grossing title. So with this game we were very confident in the Solitaire category, we were very confident in the IP of Disney. 

We did some marketing tests to prove it to ourselves and once we had that proof, we were just all in one creating the best product we can create. It’s approximately a million pre-registrations already because it’s growing very rapidly both on Android and iOS. 

What were some of the challenges you faced when blending the TriPeaks Solitaire gameplay with Disney’s vast array of characters and stories?

The biggest problem is that you have too much to choose from; we were like kids in a Candy Store. Do you want to take Moana or Elsa or Peter Pan, or Aladdin? 

We had over 75 IPs to choose from, so I think that was the major challenge because you can take that to so many different angles and you can tell a story in so many different ways because there are so many IPs. 

So the challenge was to narrow down and get to something that fits and create the story behind how Disney IPs fit the Solitaire game, because it’s an unusual fit and I think we did a very good job as that was a big challenge.

Solitaire is a game for adults, and there’s a huge audience of adults who love Disney for the nostalgic element of it. 

Talk to us about that Playtika acquisition. How did that come about and what do you think makes SuperPlay worth up to $2bn? 

First of all, remember we were Playtika employees, so we knew the management and we knew the founder and CEO. We worked with them for a couple of years, so there was a very good relationship and friendship even when we just started. So that was a very very natural acquirer I’d say. 

And how did it come about? They were always asking around, and the time came for us to take the next step and do this M&A.

As for why you think we’re worth $2bn? We’re one of the few rare cases of hyper-growth casual game companies in the past few years. And with the execution that we have, we were one of the best targets on the market. 

So, how have things gone since the acquisition and how closely do you work with Playtika. Do you still retain independence?

We’re part of Playtika but we operate very independently within that structure. Just like our studios operate independently within SuperPlay, we are now under Playtika and there are areas where we are on our own, making our own decisions, product roadmap and a lot of business decisions. 

But on a high level, we are under Playtika and working with Robert the CEO and Craig the CFO, as well as some other management members. So yeah, we were at Playtika before, it feels very natural, so honestly there are no concerns around that area of working with them. It’s natural for both sides. 

You now have three live games. How has the team grown, and do you plan to expand the team over the next year?

We plan to expand it every month. We’ve been expanding it every day, actually. We’re about 550 employees today with three titles and another one in development. And we’re planning to reach 1,000 employees by the end of 2027.

What are your expectations for Disney Solitaire? And what part of the experience do you most want players to enjoy?

I think this is going to be one of the biggest casual games on the market in a very short time. I think there are not enough big Disney games, especially for adults. So there’s a huge audience of Disney lovers who are adults that will enjoy the game. 

The potential is enormous. As you know, we have two big games already, two top-grossing games, so the standard is already high and I want the game to become number one.

So that’s the expectation, and I think it’s possible to reach tens of millions of users. 

I want players to enjoy the gameplay. I think eventually people come back to games for the gameplay and to enjoy their time. I’d like them to get back to their nostalgic scenes and stories from their childhood and re-experience them and get that goosebumps of experiencing something you enjoyed as a child. I think that would be amazing. 

What’s next for SuperPlay? Any other exciting projects we should know about? 

We’re focused on this game and aiming to make a good launch while growing our two other games. We highly believe in those as well. Becoming a company with three big games is something we’re very excited to become. 

We also have another fourth project, which is super exciting as well and might even be bigger than all of the others. I can’t share a lot about that, but it’s a very promising game. 

Always have a game in the oven, that’s one of our concepts at SuperPlay, always another game in the oven so there’s something to look up to.