Gaming company Supercell cast celebrities and influencers as iconic characters from some of the biggest mobile games in history for the launch of its much-anticipated new game Squad Busters.

In its biggest marketing campaign to date, created by agency Uncommon Creative Studio, Supercell’s star-studded ad shows the benefits of “squadding up.” The comedic five-minute film imagines Squad Busters characters as a tight-knit friend group who does everything (yes, everything) together.

Directed by Jody Hill, the cast includes Chris Hemsworth and Dolph Lundgren as gruff barbarians, Ken Jeong as a chicken, Christina Ricci as a very intense witch, Auli’i Cravalho as the shotgun-wielding Shelly and Will Arnett as the lumberjack Greg.

A gamer awakens on an important day only to find his “squad” ready to tackle the day’s challenges by his side. He attends a job interview in which the interviewer reluctantly offers him the gig after steely glares from the crew.

After a supportive side quest to the public restroom, they all cram into a small car where they belt along to Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me” while stuck in traffic.

Highlighting the game’s multiplayer action and competitive play, the squad runs headfirst into a group of similarly dressed influencers, including Bella Poarch, Thoren Bradley, Gabriela Moura and ZHC. A classic video game brawl ensues as Sean Phillips, or Dude With Sign, makes a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo.

Building hype

The much-anticipated Squad Busters is Supercell’s first release in five years, following the success of 2018’s Brawl Stars. AppMagic estimates that the game has already seen more than 5.2 million downloads from just a month of a soft launch. 

Last year, Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen explained the gap between releases, saying the company’s goal was to create games “that are remembered forever.”

The campaign for Squad Busters will also feature App Store and Google Play takeovers and TikTok activity.

“To mark this launch, our team wanted to create a show-stopping moment, so it felt fitting to have Hollywood icons face off against social media stars in a fun way, showing that life is more fun when you’re with a squad,” Paananen said in a statement.