‘Clash of Clans’ developer releases first title in 5 years despite gaming slowdown

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Supercell – the developer behind one of the most profitable mobile games, Clash of Clans — has released its first title in more than five years as the Finnish company tries to revive its fortunes in an industry facing its biggest slowdown in 30 years.

Ilkka Paananen, co-founder and chief executive, told the Financial Times that the preparation for the launch of Team Busters on Wednesday was “stressful” as the Tencent-owned company looks to score another billion-dollar hit.

“We haven’t released a game in a very, very long time,” Paananen said. “This is because our teams have very high standards. We kill lots and lots of games [before they are released]. Now we finally have our own game that has surpassed that quality bar.”

Supercell was an early mobile gaming success story, launching titles such as Clash of Clans, Grass day AND Clash Royale. It was valued at $10 billion in 2016 when Tencent, the Chinese internet group, took a majority stake.

But after peaking at 2.1 billion euros in sales and 917 million euros in profits in 2016, Supercell’s revenue declined in the following years.

Supercell’s revenue last year fell 4 percent from 2022 to 1.7 billion euros, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell 8 percent to 580 million euros.

At the same time, the $200 billion video game industry is facing its biggest slowdown in decades as growth fueled by smartphone gaming and the latest generation of consoles hits its limits. Consumer spending on mobile games fell last year, 2 percent to $107.3 billion, according to Data.ai, which forecasts low-single-digit growth in 2024.

Paananen said the mobile gaming industry as a whole had only “six or seven” new big hits since then Brawl starsSupercell’s latest global launch, in December 2018.

“The industry in general, and us included, should probably take more risks, to do things that haven’t been done,” he said. “What needs to happen is more innovation, more risk. This is the only way to grow the market.”

Ilkka Paananen, co-founder and CEO of Supercell
Ilkka Paananen, co-founder and CEO of Supercell, said launching ‘Squad Busters’ was stressful © Juuso Westerlund Moment/INSTITUTE/FT

Team Busters is a title featuring characters from all previous Supercell games in which 10 teams battle it out in four-minute races. Paananen said that the Finnish company had originally had the idea of ​​a “mix” of its titles ahead of its 10th anniversary in 2020, but that it took years to develop the right concept.

“Would we like to play a game earlier? Of course. But are we proud to wait? Yes. Is it stressful? Of course it is,” he said.

Most game companies release hundreds of titles with one or two successes and dozens of failures. Supercell, known for its “cells” of about 10 workers per title, popularized an alternative business model that has been widely imitated in the mobile industry: releasing a small number of games that last for years with a steady stream of features, characters cloud. and game ideas.

Clash of Clanswhich was released in 2012, remains one of the world’s top mobile games by consumer spending, according to Data.ai.

“We want to last more than 100 years as Nintendo,” Paananen said.

Paananen restructured Supercell last year, allowing its existing games to have larger teams – Clash of Clans now there are 100 workers – while those working on new titles remain smaller. There is currently a monster hunting game, mo.coin progress.

“There is so much untapped potential in the mobile gaming market,” said Paananen. “We are still scratching the surface. We must think more, act more boldly. And be okay with failure.”

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