The Tribal Conflict developer Supercell recently announced that Jessica Jung, the former product manager of Niantic Labs (a global phenomenon-class game, the developer of the Boggo) had been hired to lead his new “AI Innovation Laboratory” in San Francisco.
Jessica Jung announced this movement on the British front. She states that after leaving Niantic, where she was the chief product manager for the AR virtual pet application of Peridot, she was creating her own AI seed company throughout the summer. She had been in contact with a number of large investors, including a16z, Y Combinator and Founders, Inc., about her AI start-up company, and was subsequently invited by Supercell.
“It is clear that Supercell would like to explore the boundaries of AI technology and create an entirely new type of entertainment”, Jung said. Just as they subverted the game ecosystem more than a decade ago through mobile games, Supercell is ready to be an innovator again.”
In a follow-up post, Jung added: “We are building this laboratory from scratch to explore how AI can empower developers to create creative and new interactive loops that are unprecedented.”
Prior to joining Niantic, Jung was a producer of TopSpin 2K25 in 2K Games, and several years earlier in AI research.
Chief Executive Officer Supercell, Ilkka Paananen, recently called on companies to “take greater risks” in an interview with the BBC, while also addressing AI’s potential to change the game industry.
Charmie Kim, the former head of SpaceApe products, recently stated that the company was in a new, more experimental era. She is currently developing a new game in Supercell, and the target user is not a traditional user group in Supercell.
