Supercell invests US$55.8 million to acquire a 62% stake in British game studio to strengthen its R & D capabilities

Supercell invested US$55.8 million to acquire a 62% stake in British game studio SpaceApe. After the transaction is completed, SpaceApe will continue to operate independently and be supported by Supercell's resources. Supercell will use this to strengthen its research and development capabilities, accelerate its global layout, and prepare for the production of larger-scale mobile game products.

Original title: Supercell invested US$55.8 million to acquire 62% equity of SpaceApe to strengthen R & D strength

Supercell invested US$55.8 million to acquire 62% equity of British game studio SpaceApe. After the transaction is completed, SpaceApe will continue to operate independently and be supported by Supercell's resources, and Supercell will use this to strengthen R & D strength, accelerate global layout, and prepare for the production of larger-scale mobile game products.

Space Ape Games was established in 2012 and is headquartered in London. Its main business is the research and development and operation of mobile games. It has nearly 100 employees and 7 game studios. The main works include COC-type mobile games such as "Siege of Samurai" and "Country of Competition: Era of Destruction". The products have covered users in 150 countries around the world. Among them, the cumulative revenue of "Samurai Siege" has exceeded US$20 million.

John Earner, co-founder and CEO of Space Ape, said that Supercell had intended to invest in 2016, but the two companies still had some competition at the time. Now, the company will continue to operate independently after the transaction. Since the team's development bias is similar to that of Supercell, during the cooperation, it will take advantage of Supercell's resource advantages to adjust its own structure and cooperate to develop larger-scale mobile game products.

Supercell CEO Eka Pananen said that SpaceApe has the ability to produce larger-scale mobile game products, which is consistent with the company's own vision. Through investment, Supercell has transformed its previous competitors into partners, and both parties will cooperate in IP, R & D, operations, distribution and other aspects to jointly develop new heavyweight mobile game products.

Previously, Supercell invested $2.9 million in Finnish games company Shiyard in April. According to Eka Pananen, Supercell is building relationships with more game development studios around the world through investment and cooperation to accelerate the global layout and prepare for the development of larger-scale mobile game products. This layout and resource integration will also benefit Tencent.

Editor: Nancy