Supercell
More info
- Creator
- Ilkka Paananen, Mikko Kodisoja et al.
- Released
- 2010
- Owner
- Tencent (majority since 2016)
- Type
- Mobile game developer
Helsinki studio with few employees, even fewer games, and some of the most profitable mobile titles ever made.
Its first game, Gunshine, ran in the browser and flopped. The company switched to tablets and in 2012 shipped both Hay Day and Clash of Clans, a strategy game where you build a village and raid other people's. Free to download; the money comes from in-app purchases that shorten the waiting. Clash Royale (2016) and Brawl Stars followed the same pattern.
The organisation is built from small autonomous teams — "cells" — that are allowed to kill their own projects, and they do so often: far more games have died in soft launch than ever shipped, and the company celebrates each cancellation with champagne. SoftBank bought a majority stake in 2013 and sold it on to Tencent in 2016, at a valuation above $10 billion for the whole company.