Danish app developer SYBO Games is starting 2019 with a bang. The company has tapped David Byrne (pictured, left) as COO and upped Naz Amarchi-Cuevas (pictured, right) to CCO. As COO, Byrne will oversee strategy and operations for the studio and set up teams for additional games, genres and IPs. The gaming vet previously served as COO at Rovio, NaturalMotion, Playfish and Electronic Arts UK.

Amarchi-Cuevas, meanwhile, will now be responsible for franchise strategy and IP development, brand marketing, consumer products licensing and overall commercial strategy. She was promoted from her previous role as head of licensing and brand marketing.

SYBO has also inked a raft of licensing agents for SUBSURF, the consumer and lifestyle merchandising arm for its mobile gaming brand Subway Surfers. New partners include Retail Monster (US), Retail Monster UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), BN Licensing (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), Premium Licensing (Italy), Mega Licensing (Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan), Dream Theatre (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives), Lotus Global Marketing (Brazil), Lotus Global Marketing-ROLA (South America), Sagoo (France), Animation International (Turkey) and NLC (Nordic territories). SUBSURF launched in 2017 with a focus on street art, youth fashion, skate culture and dance.

The company has just rolled out a new episode of Subway Surfers: The Animated Series on YouTube. The toon series launched in June 2018, and the YouTube channel features game livestreams, trailers and behind-the-scenes content.

SYBO and Danish publisher Kiloo bowed the Subway Surfers game in 2012 and the hybrid action/endless runner game has since racked up 2.1 billion downloads.