Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen criticizes rivals for seeking to buy successful new titles rather than creating them, saying the industry has stagnated since 2021
Richard Milne / Financial Times :
Context & Ripple Effects
Supercell had been seeking its next major hit while relying on a small number of franchises with unusually long commercial lives. Its 2023 revenue decline, followed by the launch of Squad Busters as its first new title in more than five years, made the company’s approach to new-IP creation especially consequential.
Paananen’s remarks turn that company-specific release cadence into a critique of how capital is being deployed across games: toward proven titles rather than the risk of building new ones.
First-order effects
- Supercell publicly differentiates its strategy around internally created hits, raising the bar for its own pipeline to validate that stance after Squad Busters’ release.
- The comments put acquisition-led growth strategies at rival publishers in direct contrast with Supercell’s preferred model, even though they do not announce a deal or operational change.
Second-order effects
- Publishers weighing purchases of established titles face a sharper strategic trade-off: acquiring proven revenue can reduce near-term hit risk but may leave less room for new-franchise development.
- Studios with original games gain a clearer narrative for partnership or funding discussions, while buyers of mature titles must show how ownership will produce growth beyond the existing audience.
Third-order effects
- If publishers continue concentrating resources on established properties, the market could become harder for new franchises to break into, reinforcing the value of scarce, proven intellectual property.
- The underlying tension is between portfolio stability and creative renewal: an industry that optimizes mainly for acquired successes may preserve revenue while weakening its pipeline of future category-defining games.
The trend: Mobile games is becoming a contest between capital concentrated around proven franchises and the costly, uncertain work of creating the next durable hit.