Clash of Clans maker Supercell's profit grows despite Pokemon challenge

MIXI

15/02/2017 10:30

HELSINKI, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Finland's Supercell, the maker 
of hit mobile game Clash of Clans, reported on Wednesday core 
profit rose 8 percent last year, helped by the launch of a new 
game and despite the challenge from Nintendo Co's  7974.T  smash 
hit Pokemon GO. 
    Supercell, majority owned by China's Tencent Holdings Ltd 
 0700.HK , said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and 
amortisation rose to 917 million euros ($967 million) last year 
from 848 million in 2015. 
    With largely flat revenue of 2.1 billion euros, the profit 
improvement was partly due to lower spending on advertising and 
the successful launch of its latest game, Clash Royale, it said. 
    "Despite tighter competition, this was the best year so far 
in financial terms. Clash Royale was a huge hit," Chief 
Executive Ilkka Paananen told reporters. 
    Clash of Clans, a war strategy game in which players build 
fortresses, form clans with other players and battle it out in a 
Medieval-style fantasy world, has remained on the list of 
top-earning applications since its launch in 2012. 
    In 2016 it was ranked No. 2 after Mixi Inc's  2121.T  
Monster Strike, according to research company App Annie. Clash 
Royale was No. 5. 
    Augmented-reality Pokemon GO, which has players walking 
around real life neighbourhoods to catch and train Pokemon, has 
the biggest number of active users, but in revenue terms it fell 
behind Clash of Clans. 
    Supercell, also creator of Boom Beach and Hay Day, banks on 
a handful of games, a strategy that has helped it avoid the 
problems faced by the likes of rival Rovio Entertainment, which 
has failed to create a new hit game since its 2009 launch of 
Angry Birds. 
    "At the moment, we are not taking new games into beta tests, 
perhaps later in the year," Paananen said.     
($1 = 0.9479 euros) 
 
 (Reporting by Tuomas Forsell, writing by Jussi Rosendahl; 
editing by Susan Thomas) 
 ((jussi.rosendahl@thomsonreuters.com; +358 9 6805 0248; Reuters 
Messaging: jussi.rosendahl.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: SUPERCELL RESULTS/