How Steer Studios launched Grunt Rush while training a new development team

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Steer Studios is making its global debut with Grunt Rush, a new mobile action game built by a team of largely first-time developers. The title has surpassed half a million downloads since its soft launch and is now rolling out worldwide for Android and iOS.

The game was first conceived during an internal pitch competition tied to a developer training program and has since grown into Steer’s flagship release. 

We caught up with Steer Studios CEO Yannick Theler to discuss the game’s development, challenges of building a studio, and expectations for the title.

PocketGamer.biz: Where did the initial idea for Grunt Rush come from? 

Yannick Theler: We frequently hold internal game pitching competitions where employees brainstorm future project ideas. While we don’t hold these competitions all the time, this particular pitch was part of the training program for our first cohort of Saudi developers. 

As part of the process, the team conducted market research and analysed different audience segments. For us as game developers, community insights and market needs take priority – we strive to set aside personal preferences in order to build games that resonate with our players.

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

The development of Grunt Rush began just over a year ago, with an average of around 20 people working on the project in total.

What was one of the biggest challenges you faced on the project, and how did you overcome it?

There were a few challenges that we faced throughout our development process, primarily bringing together a brand new team without prior experience working together, and a majority of junior team members.

We juggled training the team, building production pipelines, and developing the game all at once, whilst gradually bringing in experts throughout production to support.

We ensured to bring in strong core values to set the foundation from day one through TRADE (Teamwork, Responsible Attitude, Adherence, Dedication, and Efficiency) whilst setting a clear long-term vision through ELITE (Empowerment, Leadership, Imagination, Teamwork, Empathy) defining the destination and guiding Steer Studios’ future. 

What made you confident to launch the game globally, and what are your expectations for the title?

We’ve been steadily tracking key user metrics throughout the soft launch phase, collecting user feedback and information on how they engage with the game to support our optimisation efforts.

We reached a stage where we were comfortable with our key performance indicators (KPIs), making it clear that we were finally ready to launch the game to a global audience.

Last time, you mentioned integrating over 60% of new talent. Did you have to train the new team internally? How did you balance that with building the game and studio?

At Steer, we’re really proud to have such a diverse team of talent from all corners of the globe, with our team of nearly 100 representing 22 nationalities, of which 50% are Saudi nationals, alongside a wide range of experience.

Our ELITE Internship Program has helped us identify some of Saudi Arabia’s top talent, with former interns now making up 15% of our team and thriving in roles where they can truly shine.

By having this wide range of experience and knowledge, our employees who are newer to the industry have received superb training that has helped them deliver true value to our development process, and has also set them up for future success in our upcoming projects.

Grunt Rush can be played offline, which isn’t always common in mobile games nowadays. Why was this an important feature for you to include? 

Offline play is a vital feature that will allow our players to be able to continue their Grunt Rush journey uninterrupted. Whether that is because they are on a plane, travelling through a tunnel, or their network provider is experiencing service issues, we wanted to ensure that there were no barriers when it came to playing.

The game has amassed half a million downloads. How does this milestone compare to your initial expectations? Were there any surprises in how the game performed? 

Half a million is a significant achievement and one that has definitely exceeded our expectations when we first began our soft launch period. It makes us even more optimistic about the future of Grunt Rush, and we are super excited for the journey ahead.

For you, what has been the most surprising aspect of launching a game globally from Saudi Arabia?   

The passion and talent within Saudi Arabia have stood out to me from the moment I started to build Steer Studios just over three years ago. This is a country full of passionate gamers and individuals who have significant potential in becoming the next generation of great developers, designers, you name it.

Looking back, what’s one lesson you learned about team building that you’d apply differently in future projects?   

I’ve been building teams across Europe, China, and the Middle East for nearly 20 years – always starting from a blank page. Each time is a new experiment: you make mistakes, you learn, and sometimes you need to unlearn. With every iteration, you improve and refine the process.

What made this journey especially challenging was not only building the production team, but also setting up all our supporting functions from the ground up, while establishing the infrastructure, recruiting, and starting game development. Everything happened simultaneously.

But those early, hard-earned lessons have laid the foundation. Future cohorts and teams will benefit from this experience. Learning the hard way always teaches you more than staying in your comfort zone.

Are there any upcoming projects you’re particularly excited about? What’s next for Steer Studios?

Nothing we can reveal yet, but we have a new game being soft-launched later this year. Alongside this, Grunt Rush will see new features added through a series of updates, with new content and special events.