Supercell has voiced further regret that Squad Busters wasn’t “ready for primetime” at launch – and explained why it is closing the game down, rather than keeping it alive with fewer updates.
A new FAQ about why it is killing Squad Busters states that keeping games alive but effectively on autopilot is simply ‘not how Supercell builds games’.
“We want every update to push the game forward in a meaningful way and keep it fun for years,” Supercell continues. “When we realized we couldn’t keep improving Squad to the level we expect and that our players deserve, we decided it was better to stop than to stretch it just to keep it alive.”
Supercell also voices further regret over launching the game too soon. “If we could go back in time, we’d spend more time making sure the very core gameplay of Squad was truly ready for primetime,” the FAQ continues. “We believed it was, but in the end, too few players connected with it deeply enough to find the fun and stay for the long term.”
The FAQ states that the Squad Busters team are all still working at Supercell, and most staff are already helping other teams. Others are “taking a moment to rest and reflect”.
There’s also further context on what happened after May’s big reboot failed to rectify the core problems with the game. At that point, “the level of rework needed would have made it almost a completely new game,” said Supercell. “It felt more honest to stop here rather than rebuild Squad into something unrecognizable.”
Some cancelled games have been kept alive by committed players on private servers, but that won’t be happening with Squad Busters. “Unfortunately, releasing the code or letting fans develop it isn’t something we can do,” the FAQ continues. “Squad includes content and characters from all Supercell games, which makes it complex both legally and technically. We also use internal tools and systems that can’t be shared publicly.”
Regular Squad Busters players are being offered in-game items in many of Supercell’s other games by way of compensation, and are being invited to transfer in-game currency to other Supercell titles through Supercell ID.
Squad Busters will be playable until the middle or end of 2026, added Supercell, after a final content update in December.
