Industry Outlook Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen on AI labs, rising costs, and why mobile games need reinvention
Squad Slump Squad Busters makes $472,000 on Chinese App Store as version 2.0 is slow to ignite global fortunes
May 19, 2025 Hot Five Hot Five: Squad Busters 2.0, Tencent’s game sales up 24%, and Sonic Rumble’s tentative 2025 release Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
May 18, 2025 Podcast | Episode 53 Will Squad Busters 2.0 revive its fortunes? | Week in Mobile Games podcast The PocketGamer.biz podcast team give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and what's inside this week's episode 53...
May 16, 2025 Kill Your Darlings Can Squad Busters 2.0 hit the mark for Supercell? A look at the game's early failings and whether "kill your darlings" should apply to live games, too
May 13, 2025 Squad Up Squad Busters 2.0: "I’d say this is the biggest change to a game of this scale from Supercell and possibly ever" Supercell head of marketing Rob Lowe and head of Squad Busters Johnathan Rowlands share insights on the latest update, reflecting on the game’s performance in its first year
May 12, 2025 Overhaul Overload Squad Busters to overhaul victory conditions, progression systems and remove many modes in tomorrow’s update Doppelgangers, Double Trouble, Epic Overload, Loot Machines and Hatchling Herder are all being removed
April 19, 2025 Podcast | Episode 50 AppLovin and Machine Zone layoffs, celebrity marketing, and Supercell's aversion to soft launch | Week in Mobile Games podcast The PocketGamer.biz podcast team give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and what's inside this week's episode 50...
April 14, 2025 China Launch Supercell’s Squad Busters is heading to China App Store sets April 22nd release date with Tencent set to publish title
April 7, 2025 Star Power Cody Rhodes, John Cena, Christina Ricci, Gordon Ramsay: Supercell goes all in on celebrity marketing Clash of Clans' ClashaMania season stars Cody Rhodes and Rhea Ripley in trailers
April 4, 2025 Transmedia Clash of Clans developer Supercell wants to bring top IP to film and TV Finnish mobile games company is hiring for a senior film and TV development executive in LA
April 3, 2025 Supercell Speaks Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen talks AI, Brawl Stars, middle management fears and why startups should "go crazy" with fresh ideas Paananen speaks with a16z speedrun to give advice and talk Supercell history
March 25, 2025 Modest Metrics Supercell’s Mo.co hits 2.5m downloads and $570k in first week By comparison, Squad Busters accumulated 30m downloads and $11.8m during its first seven days
February 17, 2025 Podcast | Episode 42 How Brawl Stars succeeded and Squad Busters struggled, and AppLovin's $900m games fire sale | Week in Mobile Games podcast The PocketGamer.biz podcast team give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and and what's inside this week's episode 42...
February 14, 2025 Supercell Strategy Supercell: The old versus the new "We believe that creating new games is an essential part of a games company," says Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen
February 11, 2025 Highs And Lows How Brawl Stars became a mega hit and why Squad Busters didn’t Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen, Brawl Stars GM Frank Keienburg, and Squad Busters lead Eino Joas open up on the company's highs and lows
February 11, 2025 Record Revenue Supercell hits record $3 billion in revenue in 2024 Finnish developer's live games garnered more than 300 million monthly active players globally
November 20, 2024 Awards And Accolades AFK Journey, Eggy Party and Squad Busters win big at the Google Play Awards 2024 HoYoverse lands another Google Play win, but not for Zenless Zone Zero
October 28, 2024 New Approvals China approves 128 new games including Supercell's Squad Busters China has consistently approved over 100 domestic video games each month, while foreign game approvals occur approximately every two months
October 23, 2024 Supercell London Supercell hiring London team for Squad Busters Three roles currently open for a "small cross-functional team" in the UK
September 17, 2024 New Offerings Supercell teams up with Hasbro to bring Transformers to Squad Busters The collaboration marks the games first cross-promo event as Optimus Prime and Elita-1 join the Squad Busters roster
August 27, 2024 Hot Five Hot Five: Squad Busters undergoes radical changes, Apple’s NFC update, and the winners of the Mobile Games Awards 2024 are… Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
August 25, 2024 Podcast | Episode 26 The big stories and trends from Gamescom 2024 | Week in Mobile Games podcast The PocketGamer.biz podcast team give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and and what's inside this week's episode 26...
July 29, 2024 Squad Spenders Squad Busters takings pass $50 million, but how does it compare to Supercell’s greatest hits? The US currently represents the game's biggest market share, where it's earned $19.6 million so far
July 10, 2024 Simulation Star Gakuen Idolmaster got 1.5x Squad Busters’ downloads during its launch month The idol title earned 40% of Bandai Namco Entertainment’s domestic mobile revenue during the period
July 8, 2024 Hot Five Hot Five: Apple fees hit ads, Squad Busters’ first month reviewed, and Pokémon Go's eight years on top Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
July 8, 2024 High Hopes Supercell's great expectations For almost any other studio, Squad Busters would be a major hit. But is it enough for Supercell?
July 6, 2024 Podcast | Episode 19 Is Squad Busters a success or failure? | Week in Mobile Games podcast The PocketGamer.biz podcast team give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and and what's inside this week's episode 19...
July 4, 2024 Top Charts June 2024 mobile game charts: Dungeon & Fighter Mobile hits No. 1, and Supercell rises to No. 2 Our monthly look at the global mobile game rankings across the App Store and Google Play
July 3, 2024 Busting Out Supercell’s Squad Busters hits $24m net revenue in first 30 days Supercell's latest picked up 40m installs during its first 30 days
June 21, 2024 Busting Out Squad Busters generates $28 million in first three weeks The latest numbers on Supercell's big new game launch
June 19, 2024 Jumping In Japan Wuthering Waves, Gakuen Idolmaster, Squad Busters: Which new mobile games won Japan over this May? Plenty of new mobile hits launched last month, from Supercell, Kuro Games, Bandai Namco and others
June 14, 2024 New Launch Success Supercell's Squad Busters team tell all on what's become their biggest launch yet As the game generates over $10 million and surpasses 30 million downloads, its team members explain how they made it a hit
June 12, 2024 Supercell Surprise "It wasn’t easy": Supercell's struggle to get Squad Busters included at Summer Game Fest A mobile-only titles appearance at this year's show not only took its audience by surprise but required arm-twisting behind the scenes
June 10, 2024 Busting Out Supercell’s Squad Busters picks up $10 million in first week Brawl Stars earned $4.1m during its first seven days, according to Appfigures
June 10, 2024 Big News Squad Busters’ supercharged launch, Pokémon’s record revenue, and Star Wars: Hunters finally hits the target Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
June 5, 2024 Busting Out Supercell's Squad Busters generated $1.1m on launch day The Finnish studio's first release in five and a half years picked up 8.8 million downloads on day one, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower
June 3, 2024 Hot Five Hot Five: Squad Busters launches globally, AFK Journey gets innovative, and Juicy Button Games has big plans for 4X strategy genre Our quick-fix roundup of the hottest stories on PocketGamer.biz
June 2, 2024 Podcast | Episode 14 Supercell's Squad Busters goes global and why Steam does discoverability better than mobile | Week in Mobile Games podcast The PocketGamer.biz podcast team give you the state of play every week. Here's where to get it and and what's inside this week's episode 14...
May 31, 2024 Five New Games New release roundup: The best new mobile games from Supercell’s Squad Busters to Hill Climb’s Lego evolution We highlight five new games that have broken cover and are all set to do big business
May 30, 2024 Chart Busters Supercell's Squad Busters the No. 1 most downloaded App Store app in 122 countries on launch day New PvP title ranked as the most installed game on iOS in 156 countries
May 29, 2024 Mobile Mavens Mobile Mavens: The industry has its say on Squad Busters ability to draw in “untapped audiences” with its “influence from a range of genres” With Squad Busters set for a global release at the end of the month we asked the industry what it thinks of the Supercell's soft-launched sixth game
May 29, 2024 Super Squad Squad Busters is out now! Supercell finally launches a new game Squad Busters marks Supercell’s first game in over five years to reach global release
May 29, 2024 Missing Millions Supercell's big Squad Busters mistake and how they're missing out on millions Božo Janković explains how Squad Busters lack of ads could add up to a mountain of lost revenue
May 29, 2024 Mobile Mavens Mobile Mavens: The industry wades in on Squad Busters from its “transformative impact” to being “corporate box ticking” We asked the industry what it thinks of the sixth Supercell game to get a global launch
May 29, 2024 Ready For Launch "Squad Busters is a love letter to Supercell IPs" Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen, Squad Busters game lead Eino Joas and marketing head Rob Lowe discuss the game's origins and why it's heading for a global launch on May 29th
May 28, 2024 Super Squad Squad Busters releases globally tomorrow… But is it REALLY the next big thing? Supercell’s sixth mobile game is almost here but as it gears for launch, how's the future hit performing?
May 14, 2024 Road To Victoy Squad Busters puts on another 10m pre registrations in 11 days Supercell's upcoming global launch has just passed its 30m total pre registrations target way ahead of schedule
May 14, 2024 In Depth Matej Lančarič's Squad Busters deep dive: Under the skin of 2024's biggest launch yet UA and marketing expert Matej Lančarič examines the changes made throughout the game's development and its ongoing global launch strategy