Mobile games maker Supercell hit by first big profit fall
Helsinki — Mobile game maker Supercell reported a 20.5% drop in 2017 core profit on Wednesday due to falling revenue for its five-year-old hit game Clash of Clans. Supercell, founded in 2010 and valued in 2016 at about $10bn, has grown year to year on the back of the continuing success of its hit games. Rather than launching a variety of titles for different audiences, it has focused on a handful of games and killed off those which it did not expect to become top-10 global hits. The Helsinki-based company, majority owned by China’s Tencent, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation fell to €729m in 2017 from €917m in 2016. Revenue dropped 14% to €1.8bn from €2.1bn in 2016. "In the West our games are not growing at the pace they used to. We also did not release new games last year," said CEO Ilkka Paananen. Supercell has a catalogue of four games — Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Boom Beach and Hay Day — which have about 100-million daily active players. It der...
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