Supercell (company) facts for kids
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Supercell's headquarters in Jätkäsaari
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Mobile games |
| Founded | 14 May 2010 |
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| Headquarters |
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Finland
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Key people
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Ilkka Paananen (CEO) |
| Products | See § Games |
| Revenue |  €1.698 billion (2023) |
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Operating income
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€580 million (2023) |
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Number of employees
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525 (2023) |
| Parent | Tencent (81.4%; 2016–present) |
| Subsidiaries | HypeHype (51%; 2016–present) Space Ape Games (62%; 2017–present) |
Supercell is a company from Finland that makes awesome games for your phone and tablet. It started on May 14, 2010. Their first game was a browser game called Gunshine.net. After that, they started making games for mobile devices.
They have made seven super popular mobile games: Hay Day, Clash of Clans, Boom Beach, Clash Royale, Brawl Stars, Squad Busters, and mo.co. These games are free to download and play, but you can buy special items inside them. Hay Day and Clash of Clans were so popular that they made a lot of money every day back in 2013!
Because Supercell grew so fast, they opened offices in other big cities like Shanghai, San Francisco, and Seoul. In 2016, a big Chinese company called Tencent bought most of Supercell.
Contents
How Supercell Makes Games
Business Model
Supercell makes games that are free to play. They earn money when players buy things inside the games, like special items or upgrades. The company wants to make games that stay fun and popular for many years.
Their main goal is to design amazing games that players will truly love. Game development happens in small teams, usually five to seven people, called "cells." These teams come up with ideas and then show them to the CEO, Ilkka Paananen.
If the idea is approved, the team develops the game. All other Supercell employees get to play and test it. After that, the game is tested in the App Store in Canada. If players in Canada like it, the game is then released worldwide.
Supercell even celebrates when a game project is canceled! This is because they learn from what didn't work. For example, a game called Battle Buddies was canceled even though it tested well. The team decided to stop it because not enough people were playing it. The development team itself makes the final decision to cancel a project.
Supercell's Story
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How it Started
Before Supercell, two of its founders, Mikko Kodisoja and Ilkka Paananen, worked at another mobile game company called Sumea. Mikko helped start Sumea in 1999, and Ilkka became its CEO in 2000.
In 2004, an American company called Digital Chocolate bought Sumea. Ilkka became the European manager. Mikko left in 2010, and Ilkka followed soon after.
Ilkka wanted to create a game company where the people making the games had a lot of freedom. So, in 2010, Ilkka, Mikko, Petri Styrman, Lassi Leppinen, Visa Forstén, and Niko Derome, who all knew each other from working together, started Supercell. They began their company in Espoo, Finland.
The founders put some of their own money into the company. They also got loans and investments from other companies. Their first game idea was a big online game called Gunshine, which you could play on Facebook or mobile devices.
Changing Plans
In November 2011, Supercell decided to stop working on Gunshine. It wasn't keeping players interested for long, it was too hard to play, and the mobile version didn't work well. Supercell also realized that other companies were already very strong in Facebook games. So, they decided to focus on games for the iPad.
At one point, Supercell was working on five games at once! Two of them, Pets vs Orcs and Tower, were stopped. But in May 2012, Hay Day was released. This became Supercell's first game released all over the world.
Hay Day was a farming game, similar to a popular Facebook game called FarmVille. Supercell added new features like making products and using touch controls. The game also made it easy to play with friends. Within four months, Hay Day became one of the most profitable games in Apple's App Store in the US. It stayed super popular for over two years! A team of 14 people still works on keeping Hay Day updated.
The Success of Clash of Clans
Two of the developers, Lassi Leppinen and Lasse Louhento, wanted to make a strategy game that was easy and fun to play using a touch screen. They spent six months making Clash of Clans, and it was released on August 2, 2012.
In just three months, Clash of Clans became the most profitable app in the US. It was the most profitable mobile game in the world in 2013 and 2014! The famous "clans" (groups of players) fighting each other were added to the game later in 2014.
In 2013, Supercell worked with a Japanese game company called GungHo. They helped each other's games become popular in their own countries. Because of this, Clash of Clans became one of the most downloaded apps in Japan. Later, a big Japanese company called SoftBank bought 51% of Supercell's shares for a huge amount of money. This was the biggest price ever paid for a private company in Finland at that time!
More Games After Clash of Clans
After Clash of Clans and Hay Day came out in 2012, Supercell didn't release a new game for almost two years. The third game, Boom Beach, started being designed in late 2012 and was released in 2014. It was very successful in the US after it came out in March. Later, a big advertising campaign helped it become even more popular. By 2015, Boom Beach was doing even better than Hay Day on the charts.
In March 2016, Supercell released Clash Royale, their fourth popular game. It uses characters from Clash of Clans. Before Clash Royale, Supercell had stopped working on several other game projects, even some that were already being tested by players.
In December 2018, Supercell released Brawl Stars all over the world. This was their fifth popular game and took about 18 months to develop.
On May 29, 2024, Supercell launched Squad Busters, their first new global game in over five years. This game brings together characters from Clash of Clans and Brawl Stars in fast-paced matches. Before it launched, over 40 million people signed up to play it, and it quickly became a top downloaded game in many countries.
Supercell also announced on December 15, 2021, that they are opening a new game studio in North America. This studio will make games for other platforms like computers and game consoles.
In March 2023, Supercell stopped its services for players in Russia and Belarus for a time.
Company Ownership
In 2016, a group of companies bought 81.4% of Supercell for $8.6 billion. At that time, Supercell was valued at $10.2 billion. The Chinese technology company Tencent owned half of this group. In 2019, Tencent increased its ownership in the group to 51.2%.
Other Companies Supercell Owns
In 2016, Supercell bought 51% of Frogmind, a company that made the game Badland. Frogmind later changed its name to HypeHype in 2021.
In 2017, Supercell bought 60% of Space Ape Games, a mobile game maker in London. Space Ape Games worked with Supercell to make Beatstar. They also developed Boom Beach: Frontlines, a game related to Boom Beach. Boom Beach: Frontlines was tested in some countries but was later stopped in January 2023.
Supercell bought the rest of Space Ape Games in late 2024. Some Space Ape employees moved to work for Supercell in their London office, and some changes happened with employees.
Games
| Title | Year | Availability | Description |
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| Gunshine.net (later Zombies Online) | 2011 |  |
Gunshine.net was Supercell's first game and their only game that wasn't for mobile phones. It was a game you played in your internet browser. The game servers were turned off in November 2012. |
| Pets vs Orcs | 2012 | |
Pets vs Orcs was Supercell's first mobile game. It was only available for a little over a month in 2012. |
| Battle Buddies | 2012 | |
This was Supercell's second mobile game. It was tested in some countries in 2012 but was stopped later that year. The game was removed because it didn't make enough money, even though critics liked it. |
| Hay Day | 2012 (iOS) and 2013 (Android) |  |
Supercell released Hay Day for iOS devices in June 2012 and for Android devices in November 2013. |
| Clash of Clans | 2012 (iOS) and 2013 (Android) | |
Supercell released Clash of Clans worldwide for iOS in August 2012 and for Android in October 2013. This online strategy game lets players build defenses and train troops to attack other players' bases. It has been a top-earning app for both iOS and Android. |
| Boom Beach | 2014 | |
Supercell released Boom Beach for iOS and Android in March 2014. |
| Spooky Pop | 2014 | |
Spooky Pop was tested in Canada in December 2014 but was stopped in March 2015. Supercell removed the app from the Canadian App Store, and the game was fully shut down. |
| Smash Land | 2015 | |
Smash Land was released for a short time in Canada and Australia in April 2015. However, Supercell decided to stop making the game in July of that year. It was completely removed from app stores in September. |
| Clash Royale | 2016 | |
Supercell first tested Clash Royale in some countries in January 2016 for iOS and February 2016 for Android. It was then launched globally for both iOS and Android in March 2016. |
| Brawl Stars | 2018 | |
Supercell announced Brawl Stars in June 2017. It was first tested in Canada for iOS. It was then released in Finland, Sweden, and Norway in January 2018. The Android version came out in June 2018 in several countries. The game was released worldwide in December 2018. |
| Rush Wars | 2019 | |
A test version of Rush Wars was launched in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in August 2019. In November 2019, Supercell announced that the game would not continue and would shut down later that month. |
| Hay Day Pop | 2020 | |
Hay Day Pop was released for testing in March 2020 in certain countries. In November 2020, Supercell announced they would stop the game. The game servers were shut down in February 2021. |
| Clash Quest | 2021 | |
In April 2021, Supercell announced three new games, including Clash Quest. It became available for testing in some countries in April and May 2021. In August 2022, Supercell announced that they had stopped developing the game. The servers were shut down in September 2022. |
| Clash Mini | 2021 | |
Clash Mini was also announced in April 2021. It became available for testing in many countries starting in November 2021. In March 2024, Supercell announced that they had stopped developing the game. The servers were shut down in April 2024. Supercell has said they plan to release Clash Mini as a game mode inside Clash Royale by June 2025. |
| Clash Heroes | – | |
Clash Heroes was announced in April 2021. In June 2024, Supercell announced they were stopping the game. They also said that a new game, Project R.I.S.E, will use some ideas from Clash Heroes. |
| Everdale | 2021 | |
A test version of the world-building game Everdale was launched in August 2021 in several countries. In October 2022, Supercell announced they were ending development of Everdale. The servers were shut down in October 2022. |
| Boom Beach: Frontlines | 2022 | |
This game, set in the Boom Beach world, was made by Space Ape Games. It was tested in Canada in October 2021 and then in more regions in August 2022. The game was stopped in November 2022, and its servers were shut down in January 2023. |
| Flood Rush | 2023 | |
Flood Rush was announced in May 2023. It was available for a short test period in May and June 2023 in some countries, only on Android. In August 2023, Supercell announced they were stopping development of Flood Rush. |
| Squad Busters | 2024 | |
This game was announced in February 2023. It had two test periods in Canada, Mexico, and Spain for Android users. The game was then released for testing in Canada, Spain, Singapore, Mexico, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland in April 2024. Two days later, Supercell announced Squad Busters would be released globally on May 29, 2024. |
| mo.co | 2025 | |
Mo.co was announced in October 2023. It was available for a test in the United States in October and November 2023, only on Android. The game was released globally on March 18, 2025. Players could get an invite to play through a special link or QR code. |
| Project R.I.S.E | Unknown | Early development | After stopping Clash Heroes, Supercell announced Project R.I.S.E. This is a new action role-playing game that takes some ideas from Clash Heroes. It is still in early development. |
Marketing and Awards
Marketing
In February 2015, Supercell spent a lot of money to show a 60-second advertisement during the Super Bowl XLIX, a very popular American football game. The ad, called "Revenge," featured actor Liam Neeson acting like his character from the Taken movies. He was seeking revenge in a coffee shop because another player destroyed his village in Clash of Clans.
This commercial was very popular and became the most watched ad on YouTube in 2015. Even with this big ad, Supercell only saw a small increase in game downloads right after. In 2020, Supercell worked with an animation studio to make a short film called Lost & Crowned, which was even considered for an Oscars award!
Accolades
Supercell has won many awards. In 2012, they were named the best new company in the Nordic countries and the Finnish game developer of the year. The next year, they won the Finnish Technology Educator award.
In 2014, a research company chose Supercell as Finland's most trusted company in their report.
See also
In Spanish: Supercell (empresa) para niños
