When we were growing MavenHut, one of the models we used was SuperCell. I’ve actually used their business model to convince our investors to put more money into MavenHut.
The company created several games and generated $12.5 billions in 6-7 years with just a few employees (300) compared to other gaming companies.
It’s an amazing story and I’m happy I’ve found this article:
10 Years of Excellence – Deconstruction of Supercell
If you’re interested in gaming, this is mandatory reading. If you’re interesting in startups, the same.
Supercell is one of the rare companies that doesn’t try to beat the competition; rather, it tries to beat the high score set by its own prior games. To date, Supercell has created multiple genre-defining games and generated billions in revenues — all with little more than 300 employees (!).
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There are only a handful of companies that try to disrupt the market by creating new genres or redefining existing ones. Disruptors rely on gut feeling, an extremely high level of talent, and… a lot of courage to pull off this high-risk, high-reward strategy. Supercell has clearly mastered this strategy so far, since they can be credited for creating 4 genre-defining hits: Hay Day, Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, and Brawl Stars. This is an astounding achievement as most disruptors are lucky to produce a single hit of that magnitude in their lifetime.
These are just some of Supercell’s incredible achievements so far:
- $12B in total gross revenues over the last 6 years (mic drop)
- Its first 4 games passed $1B in lifetime revenues (and Brawl Stars will soon join the club)
- Long “staying power” of its games, as they remain relevant for years
- Clash of Clans is one of the most successful mobile titles ever (revenues estimated ~$6.5B)
- Global footprint (in 2019 ~40% of revenues came from the US and ~15% from Asia)
- Well diversified portfolio across genres (from simulation to build & battle and MOBA)
- Currently only 320 employees to achieve all of the above
However, no matter how big of a fan of Supercell you are (and we at Deconstructor of Fun for sure are), you can’t overlook the numbers. In the last few years, Supercell has been on a gradual decline, as existing titles have slowed down and new launches haven’t been able to fill the void.
Again, read the entire article, it is worth it! And read the entire Deconstructor of Fun blog, while you’re at it.
