'Clash of Clans' Developer Supercell to Keep Core Team Small
"Clash of Clans" maker Supercell has been making huge investments in order to keep its core team small.
Despite being able to generate tons of money through its popular games, Supercell still chooses quality over quantity. The company continues to maintain its small group of employees instead of using its wealth to expand the core staff.
Majority of the company has been acquired by China's Tencent for $8.6 billion, making it one of the top developers in the industry. Supercell has a total of 240 employees and most of them work in teams or "cells" made up of five or 10 individuals.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Speaking with Venture Beat, Supercell co-founder Mikko Kodisoja explained why the company believes investment is better than just hiring more employees. "One of the main reasons is we want to keep Supercell itself small, to keep things agile within Supercell," he said. "We know that if we want to increase our bets internally, we'd have to hire more people into our studio. We might have to do something there."
In May, Supercell acquired 62 percent of London-based studio Space Ape Games, for $55.8 million. The developer is best known for its involvement in several hit games, including "Rival Kingdoms," "Samurai Siege" and "Transformers: Earth Wars." Those titles still continue to bring in money for Space Ape.
TechCrunch noted that Supercell now has ownership of the stakes from the U.K. developer's previous investors such as Sega, Initial Capital, Accel and Northzone. The said companies and other previous investors put over $14 million to Space Ape collectively.
The developer has been discussing the deal with Supercell since 2016. It has also been profitable since last year, earning $92 million in revenues. Although the two developers have been compared a lot of times, Space Ape CEO John Earner describes Supercell as a "kindred company." Before being Space Ape's shareholder, Supercell invested $2.9 million in Shipyard, another famed gaming company in Finland.
