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NEWS
NEWS
Clash of Clans dev Supercell tripled its earnings in 2014 thanks to F2P model
It is no surprise to learn that the company behind the popular free-to-play (F2P) mobile game Clash of Clans is doing ok—they were able to afford a several-million dollar ad starring Academy Award nominee Liam Neeson during this year’s Super Bowl after all. But Supercell, the developer behind the runaway hit, is doing far better than ok.
The privately owned Finnish game maker announced that Clash of Clans and its other popular F2P games, Hay Day and Bomb Beach, led the company to record earnings for 2014, taking in revenue of over €1.55 billion ($1.7 billion), which is nearly triple the amount earned in the previous year. Accounting for shifting exchange rates over the last few years, the difference is not quite as extreme, but no less impressive.
While Supercell’s library of games is relatively small compared to studios who churn out release after release – the developer has released about half a dozen games – the few games it does have are some of the top earners in the industry. Clash of Clans alone has been one of the top grossing games on iOS and Android for nearly three years. Hay Day and Boom Beach were also each in the top 20 for 2014.
A lack of new releases might be a problem for traditional “buy to own” video game business models, but Supercell’s F2P games with in-app purchases allow the company to continue earning an impressive level of revenue from games that are several years old.
Thanks to its rapid financial growth, Supercell has also bolstered its staff slightly, but the Finnish studio remains relatively small.
“The element of Supercell’s business that most impresses? The fact that in the last year they added only a dozen employees to their staff, taking the total to 150,” VB Insight analyst Stewart Rogers told GamesBeat. “Compare that to King, which recently reported 1.45-times the revenue of Supercell at $2.26 billion with a staff of 1,200, and it underlines how effective Supercell is right now.”
Supercell’s success is also good news for Japanese telecom company SoftBank Corp, who will receive a dividend payment of $170 million thanks to the developer’s strong year in 2014.
Image credit: Supercell (c)
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