Supercell acquires 51% of Badland developer Frogmind as the two studios enter a long-term partnership

Supercell has acquired 51% of Helsinki-based developer Frogmind as the companies enter into a "long-term partnership."

Frogmind will continue to act as an independent studio from Supercell, with full creative control over its products, which it will continue to self-publish.

Frogmind will use the Supercell's backing and expertise to fund and advise on its next three games that are currently in development.

Writing on the company's website, Frogmind CEO Johannes Vuorinen said that his studio's mentality was in some ways similar to Supercell's own company culture.

Similar styles

"Supercell also understands our culture and the way we make games. It’s actually very similar to theirs, having small talented independent teams with no middle management aiming to make the best games in the world," he wrote.

"Like BADLAND which was initially made by the two of us, our new games are also being developed by small and effective teams of three to five people."

Supercell's Ilkka Paananen had previously hinted that the company was looking to at ways to expand its own business, saying that it had considered "investing in other like-minded developers."

Frogmind's COO Teemu Mäki-Patola has spoken to PocketGamer.biz before about the dangers of making premium games in the current mobile market. The investment will therefore likely help keep Frogmind keep afloat as it experiments with free-to-play.