Supercell has hired former Niantic PM Jessica Jung to lead its new ‘AI innovation lab’ in San Francisco.
Announcing the move on LinkedIn, Jung said that she had spent the summer building her own AI startup after leaving her role at Niantic, where she was lead product manager on Peridot, the firm’s AR virtual pet app.
Having spoken to various large investors including a16z, Y Combinator and Founders, Inc about her AI startup, Supercell came calling next:
“It was clear that Supercell is looking to explore at the edge of what’s possible with AI and build completely new entertainment categories,” said Jung. “Just as they disrupted the gaming ecosystem over a decade ago with mobile, Supercell is positioned to become innovators once again.”
Jung added later in her post: “We’re building the lab from 0->1, exploring how AI can give developers superpowers to realize their creativity and make novel new interaction loops that we’ve never seen before.”
Prior to her time at Niantic, Jung was a producer on TopSpin 2K25 at 2K Games, and previously spent several years as an AI researcher.
Supercell boss Ilkka Paananen recently called for the company to ‘take bigger risks‘ in an interview with the BBC, while also talking up the potential of AI to change gaming.
Former Space Ape product lead Charmie Kim also recently told us that the firm could be described as being in a new, more experimental era. She is now working on a new title at Supercell, one not aimed at the “typical Supercell demographic”.
