Finnish superstar Supercell , a mobile games company, had pre-tax sales of $ 577 million of $ 1.56 billion, lower than sales of $ ...
Finnish superstar Supercell , a mobile games company, had pre-tax sales of $ 577 million of $ 1.56 billion, lower than sales of $ 635 million of $ 1.6 thousand million in 2018. I think you could call it a bad year.
Super cell wins always make me laugh. The maker Clash of Clans and Clash Royale of Helsinki are a leading artist when in mobile games even their free or quiet years like 2019 still mean that business prints money. And Supercell only has 323 employees compared to the console game maker Ubisoft, which has more than 15,000 employees and whose annual turnover is not far from that of Supercell.
This gives him the idea of efficiency from Supercell, one of the giants of the $ 86 billion mobile gaming industry . But instead of showing off, Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen wrote an annual letter that looked more like a love letter to the players to openly explain what the world looks like in Supercell.
The Finns are modest given their capitalism. They don't boast about it because they have semi-socialist roots and don't promote their financial performance. For example, in Paananen's letter, the description of the company's financial performance is buried in paragraph 34. And Paananen is proud to note that the company paid $ 110 million in taxes to Finland alone. and not to any boss, the price The financial agent of most capitalist countries would be ashamed to recognize this.
"Many of us who have benefited from our free tax-funded education and medical care are proud to be able to contribute to our society in this way," Paananen wrote. "For us, the most important thing about good financial results like this is that we can continue to invest in the development of great games (even improve our existing games) and think for a long time."
Above: Ilkka Paananen, co-founder and managing director of Supercell
Paananen said the company will be 10 years old this year.
"This brings us closer to being able to measure our games over decades rather than years, which is a very good reminder of why we are here," he wrote in the annual letter. The letter shows the eccentricity of the Finnish company that Tencent as part of an acquired business , the company at 10 billion estimated by dollar a year 2016th
Supercell's dream is "to develop games that have been played for years and will be remembered forever," he said.
"When we started Supercell in 2010, our idea was simple: to found a new type of game company that was the best place for the best people and the best teams to develop the best games: games for as many people as possible is played for years and will be remembered forever, "wrote Paananen. At that time, we were inspired by games like World of Warcraft that many of our co-founders had played for years. It wasn't just a game for them. It was a passion, a very important part of their daily life, something they played with friends with and with which they also became new friends. The dream was to create a similar social experience, and we hope that with a platform like Mobile, practically everyone can be a part of it. "
Kill your own games
Above: Supercell has killed many games in its history.
Paananen said several examples of the company's values were seen in action in 2019. The company painfully decided to kill Rush Wars, a game that became a beta test.
"The team behind the game killed him because, according to the beta version, they thought it wasn't a game that many people would play for years or would remember forever," wrote Paananen. "It was a lot of fun starting the game, but it just didn't move at the end of the game."
The only other game company that works this way and speaks (from time to time) of their mistakes publicly is Blizzard Entertainment, which mainly works in the PC and console sector and recognizes when to kill games that are not realizing their potential ,
"I'm proud of the team's decision. I can't even imagine how painful it is to kill your own love, into which you poured your heart and soul, "he wrote. "In other words, that's how we all want Supercell to work: we should only launch games of exceptional quality, games that players love, and games that can be remembered forever." In Supercell it is very important that these types of decisions always belong to the team behind the game. We believe it is important that those responsible for the game can also decide about their future. "
Paananen said that he had developed increasing respect for the incredible difficulty of developing a new game. In 10 years, Supercell has only released five games: Hay Day, Clash of Clans, Boom Beach, Clash Royale and Brawl Stars. He sees those who have not done so as an opportunity to learn.
Keep playing with great updates
Above: Hay Day hit the market in 2012 and hit Farmville.
Throughout the year, the teams behind Hay Day and Boom Beach released their biggest updates in the history of their games. Hay Day added "The Valley" and created a new mechanic. and Boom Beach added "Warships", a new way to play with other people.
Millions of players are still enjoying these games, even if they have been around for many years, and that's why the teams have spent so much time on these updates. The Shock and Brawl Stars games have also been significantly improved.
Working in cells
Above: Boom Beach had a great update in 2019.
Supercell claims it is solid because it is managed by experienced staff. It has deliberately reduced the size of its team and has far fewer managers and executives than other companies. The teams are autonomous and new projects often start with a handful of people. The decision to continue or end the games rests with these teams.
"An important part of our mission, the best place for the best teams to develop games, is to keep business as small as possible," Paananen wrote. "We believe that a smaller size minimizes bureaucracy and processes while maximizing the space for innovation. And we all love working in a small company! However, last year some of our game developers were really worried that the company would grow too quickly as we rose to just over 300. We had a great discussion about it and as a result we decided to slow down our growth significantly until we are confident that we can keep our culture intact despite the growth. "
Instead of using their profits to supply new equipment , Supercell decided to start an investment industry and invest in other studies, often in the Nordic countries, to bring interesting ideas to the market. In 2019 the company invested in Luau Games in Malmö, Sweden. Ritz Deli in Oakland, California; and wild games in Stockholm.
battles
Above: Supercells Brawl Stars made their beta debut in 2017.
2019 was the first full year for Brawl Stars as a global game. The game spent a lot of time in development and in beta before the team decided to launch it.
"What made it particularly interesting was that internally even the Supercellians (the passionate players and developers they were) had mixed feelings about the beta," said Paananen. "Some loved it, others less. There has been lively discussion about art style and control, even if Brawl is initially a supercell game. However, the team continued to work hard to improve the game and made massive changes to the beta game. "
Brawl Stars has become number 1 in South Korea, one of the countries with the strongest competitors in mobile games. Supercell has invested in this market and opened a location called Supercell Lounge in Seoul where players can meet to experience the game together. Supercell also celebrated the world premiere of Brawl Stars and filled Busan with Brawl characters.
"E-sports will be an important part of Brawl Stars in the future," said Paananen. "It is very important for us that everyone has the opportunity to participate. For this reason, the Brawl team launched a monthly in-game challenge a few weeks ago, where anyone who plays can try to qualify for this year's championship! It has been very popular so far, with over two-thirds of Brawl players participating at that time. "
evolution shock
Above: Clash of Clans debuted in 2012.
This year, Clash of Clans celebrates its eighth anniversary while Clash Royale turns four. The two teams continue to work hard to improve players' games, said Paananen.
Clash of Clans has received two major updates with Town Hall 13 and Builder Base 9 that offer players a lot of new things to build and fight for, including new troops and a first new hero since 2015: the Royal Champion. Clash of Clans and Royal Clash have also introduced seasonal seasons and challenges, as well as game passes.
New year, new teams, new games.
Above: Finns come out with more games.
Paananen said the new games are in different stages of development. Some are close to beta, others are killed before anyone sees them.
"But if you're lucky, you should watch one or two of our beta games this year," he said. "And then it's up to you, if enough players like them, we'll launch them all over the world. That's exactly what I think of our portfolio of new games today! Lots of new and exciting games are in the works, and hopefully our teams will decide to launch one or two of them in beta later this year. "
Paananen also thanked the community.
"We are very grateful for the support and love we receive from you," he wrote. "We are inspired by the work you do every day and it forces us to work even harder to give you even better games and experiences."
He noted that Supercell also returned to the community with the launch of Hive, a new type of coding school in Helsinki inspired by the pioneering work at École 42 in Paris. Hive is a free teaching school in which everyone can apply via an online exam. He has no teachers or classes. Instead, students learn from each other by solving problems with increasing complexity.
"The start was a great success! So far, 3,395 people have passed the online test, 142 of whom have graduated and are now learning to code, "wrote Paananen. We wanted to create an inclusive environment where everyone could learn to code. So it was great to have so many different people To see people with different backgrounds: The backgrounds of winters range from teaching agriculture and kindergarten to musicians and business owners to caretakers and health professionals, from 18 to 55 years old. "
Finally, he said Supercell had decided to transform the company into a climate neutral country. In September 2019, a total of 21 gaming companies launched the Alliance Playing For The Planet at the United Nations Climate Change Summit.
Supercell is committed to offsetting 200% of its direct CO2 emissions last year and 100% of the emissions caused by players playing corporate games.
"So we're starting our second decade. When we started ten years ago, we were inspired by companies like Blizzard, Nintendo, and Pixar, which have been able to continuously develop successful entertainment products that are loved by millions of people around the world. World, "Paananen wrote." We strive to be like the companies that have existed for decades, in the case of Nintendo for over a hundred years, and that will live much longer. It is crazy to believe that we are close to completing our first 10 years as a company. Obviously it's early (we're not even nearly 100 years old!), But it's a good move for us. "
