Tag: Supercell
Posted inNews

Mobile games giant Supercell’s revenues flattened in 2016

Avatar photo by Stuart Dredge

Along with Candy Crush Saga publisher King, Finnish firm Supercell has been one of the biggest stars of the lucrative mobile games industry.

We covered its last set of financial results – €2.1bn revenues and an €848m net profit in 2015 from just three games – and compared them with some degree of trepidation to figures from the recorded-music space. What about 2016 though?

The wheels have hardly come off Supercell’s business, but after 36% growth in 2015, its sales stayed flat in 2016, with another €2.1bn year. That said, the profits of the Clash of Clans and Clash Royale publisher increased to €917m.

Posted inAnalysis

Games firm Supercell made $2.3bn in 2015. What can music firms learn from its success?

Avatar photo by Stuart Dredge

In May 2010, six people in Helsinki founded Supercell, a developer that would initially make Facebook social games, although it quickly switched to smartphones and tablets.

In 2015, the company – now with 180 staff – generated $2.3bn of revenues and recorded a net profit of $964m from a catalogue of just three games: Clash of Clans, Hay Day and Boom Beach. That June, Supercell had been valued at $5.5bn.

A year later in June 2016, the company was bought by Chinese tech giant Tencent in a deal valuing Supercell at $10.2bn, after its fourth game Clash Royale had joined its predecessors high up in the top-grossing app charts.

The rise of Supercell is partly a tale of the mobile games industry’s explosion under Apple and Google’s watch. But it’s also a tale of a company culture that challenged the games industry’s traditional way of doing things.

Does it have any lessons for music companies, from labels to streaming services? Supercell’s CEO and co-founder Ilkka Paananen delivered a speech at BAFTA in London last night outlining some of the lessons from Supercell’s six-year rise. Music Ally went along to see what we could learn for our industry.

Posted inReports, Reports-Old

Music Ally Report 385 – Clan They Kick It

Avatar photo by Music Ally

In our cover feature we look at the staggering success of Finnish gaming company Supercell and, rather than rub it in the music industry’s face, we consider precisely how artists and labels can learn from it and other gaming companies like it. From applying a different ruler to freemium to understanding gateway purchases and celebrating […]

To access this post, you must subscribe. If you are already a subscriber, log in here.