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Supercell hopes that its new relationship with GungHo Online Entertainment will help it expand in the Asian market.
The news that GungHo parent company Softbank has acquired a 51 percent stake in the Finnish developer broke earlier today, and Gamasutra asked Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen what the move meant for the company.
"We just recently launched Clash of Clans on Android," said Paananen.
"Japan’s market is bigger on the Android side. Korea is almost entirely an Android market. So is China. So we are very excited to have GungHo’s support in reaching those markets."
Supercell is one of the year’s biggest success stories; the studio Clash of Clans and Hay Day are said to make about $2.4 million a day.
GungHo is doing even better, with Puzzle & Dragons raking in an astonishing $4.9 million a day, mostly in Japan.
This isn’t the first time the pair have worked together, but the cash infusion of $1.5 – $1.2 billion of which came from GungHo – means Supercell can afford to expand into the local markets already occupied by its Japanese partner.
Paananen said that the cash wouldn’t affect Supercell’s operations or pipeline. Instead, the partnership meant “building a sustainable model” for free-to-play mobile games on a “truely global” scale.
Sustainable apparently means creating games that attract the same sort of long-term player commitment enjoyed by MMOs and MOBAs.
"People don’t play World of Warcraft or League of Legends for weeks and then quit. They play for years," said Paanamen.
"We want [that staying power] for our games."
