Supercell: Free to play games can be more than monetisation machines

Can free to play games balance brilliant game design with a fair but effective monetisation system?

Or, are they purely supposed money sucking 'monetisation machines', where design is forfeited to force players into parting with their cash?

It's a debate that rages on within the mobile games industry one you can currently see sprawled all over the pages of PocketGamer.biz, in fact - and in a recent interview with The Guardian, Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen threw in his two cents.

Great games make money

"The huge irony here is that if the monetisation is not your number one priority, that actually leads to better monetisation," explained Paananen.

"When you prioritise engagement and retention making a great game that people play often and want to play for a long time they are happy to pay. We want to design games that people can theoretically play for years."

Supercell's Clash of Clans

The Supercell man also had some bold words for social game developers who are perhaps becoming overly reliant on analytics.

"There was a time, especially in the social games industry, where people thought you could create great games based on a spreadsheet," concluded Paananen.

"[They thought] that creativity and design wouldn't really matter, because it was all about some maths," says Paananen.

"You can't design fun on a spreadsheet. And if you want to make an industry for the long-term, if you can't create fun games, there's no future."

[Source: The Guardian]