Supercell's AI masterplan explained

Clash of Clans developer Supercell has been investing heavily in AI - hiring new talent, hosting hackathons and opening AI Innovation Labs in Helsinki and San Francisco.

Speaking at RovioCon, Supercell AI lead Otto Söderlund discussed how the company sees AI, its strategy for the tech and how exactly it’s utilising it.

Söderlund said AI is “driving the biggest change since the industrial revolution” and the games industry will be one of the first to be heavily hit.

He noted that he believes the current AI hype is actually the fourth time the hype has caught on - stating he previously got burnt with the rise of machine learning. But with the amount of data now available and cloud computing, he believes this time AI will actually work.

And the industrial revolution moved manual labour to more automation, AI is doing something similar but replacing repetitive knowledge work.

Three ways the industry is changing

Söderlund said there are three ways the industry is changing.

Firstly, how players spend their time is evolving. There are more interactive experiences, while player expectations are getting higher. Meanwhile, digital content is becoming a sideshow of social hangouts for younger audiences.

Secondly, how games are built is changing. Tooling is being bombarded with new AI features. Söderlund said the tech stack is “evolving faster than I’ve ever seen in my career”. He highlighted:

• Agentic AI is evolving rapidly.
• Virtual workers (AI) that can consume massive amounts of data that people could never do themselves.
• The speed of advancement is “insane”. He highlighted China in particular as moving incredibly fast.

Thirdly, the industry is transforming, with AI boosting content generation dramatically. The supply of content is growing quickly, Söderlund said. For the first time in combined media and entertainment history, supply will no longer be the bottleneck.

What does this mean for games companies?

Supercell’s AI strategy has been structured into three key pillars.

The first is ‘give our people superpowers’. This includes accelerating development through code gen and CI/CD automation. Supporting creativity by iterating art and game concepts faster, and automating repetitive knowledge work tasks to enable the company to get more work done with smaller cells.

Another pillar is ‘better operate our games’. This means mass personalisation for UA activities, predicting player behaviour and tailoring retention and monetisation activities to maximise LTV, and automatically serving clients 24/7 around the world.

Lastly is ‘innovating our portfolio’. This sees Supercell using AI features within its games to enable deeper engagement and empower players to become creators. It also includes AI native games innovating new kinds of gameplay and genres, and AI native entertainment experiences enabling fans to experience Supercell IP in new ways.

Three horizons for Supercell’s AI initiatives

Supercell has created three horizons for its AI initiatives.

Horizon 1 focuses on helping cells operate smarter and faster, helping players by providing a better service and more relevant content.

Horizon 2 is to develop and prove AI features and ways of working in new games, as well as roll out proven approaches into live games to scale business value.

Horizon 3 is to research and experiment with the art of possible and new media barrier breaking concepts, as well as explore how players can spend time interacting with Supercell IP in novel kinds of experiences.

Söderlund said if you’re thinking about an AI program, it’s important to think about all of these horizons. If you’re only thinking of 1 and 2, a game would be very boring. If you only think of horizon 3, then you’re unlikely to do anything practical.

He added that when it comes to the first two horizons, Supercell doesn’t need to be the first mover. “Our strategy is actually a rapid second mover.”

In horizon 3, Supercell still wants to be a first mover when it comes to innovation. He said Supercell is now the incumbent in the mobile games space - and it wants to ensure it acts as the disruptor to itself, rather than get beaten by another company.

The Supercell Way

Supercell has three implementation principles for AI to ensure the technology is aligned with its unique organisation structure and culture. That includes the ability to kill something if it’s not hitting the high levels it sets. These are:

• AI helps us create even better games for our players.
• AI will be used to amplify and accelerate our creativity.
• AI will not replace our great people, but gives us superpowers.

What is Supercell doing with AI right now?

Söderlund showed a few videos showcasing exactly how it uses right and what it’s been experimenting with.

To provide staff with “superpowers”, its AI implementations include:

• Coding copilots
• Bots for balancing
• AI in creative work
• Creative AI toolset for 2D, 3D and video
• Creative AI trainings
• AI automation in knowledge work
• ChatGPT and prompting trainings
• MCP Server and authentication

To improve player interactions and optimise operations:

• Creative brief generation pilots
• AI in marketing analysis
• UA asset creation pilots
• AI in live ops
• Live ops and monetisation pilots
• MLOps platform for RL
• AI in player support

Söderlund said that while Supercell has already done a lot of work with AI, it’s only just started. “We are going to accelerate on this path,” he stated.

He added that Supercell doesn’t see a vision where AI replaces creativity, but rather one where AI can boost it.

Learn about the latest AI trends in the games industry at Pocket Gamer Connects London on January 19th to 20th, 2026.