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Supercell weighing up investments in other developers and opening new studios

CEO Ilkka Paananen expands on his previous hints

Supercell weighing up investments in other developers and opening new studios

Clash of Clans developer Supercell is considering investment in other studios and opening new offices outside of its native Helsinki, says CEO Ilkka Paananen.

In a soon-to-be-published interview with PocketGamer.biz, Paananen elaborated on comments he made during an illuminating BAFTA Games Lecture in which he hinted that Supercell was looking at ways to bring its company culture to "teams in other locations."

This has been the subject of much speculation, not least among our Mobile Mavens.

What's next?

And that conversation is one that Paananen acknowledged and discussed further.

"It was very interesting to read what people like Harry Holmwood, Shintaro Kanaoya and John Ozimek thought we could do," he said.

"Acquisitions, new studios or something else entirely. Thanks to them for their comments.

"There are actually a couple of different ideas that we’re discussing internally at the moment. They range from investing in other like-minded developers to setting up remote studios in locations outside Helsinki."

Watch this space

Whether or not the company could replicate its huge successes at another studio remains to be seen. But given the company's philosophy on how it makes games and its impressive track record of hits, any new partners would certainly have a good platform to start from.

"One of our core values is about giving the very best talent the independence and resources they need to do what they do best," said Paananen.

"So, we’ve been thinking whether there would be ways for us to enable also other teams to make a bigger impact by using this philosophy outside the existing Supercell teams."


Features Editor

Matt is really bad at playing games, but hopefully a little better at writing about them. He's Features Editor for PocketGamer.biz, and has also written for lesser publications such as IGN, VICE, and Paste Magazine.