Finland’s Supercell, the Tencent-owned developer behind Clash of Clans and Clash Royale, is launching its first new mobile game in five years—and it has all the right ingredients to become another billion-dollar brand in the company’s portfolio.
Squad Busters (pictured) is a multiplayer fighter, but it also features a nurturing/training layer that adds a lot of value and is reminiscent of traditional play patterns. Featuring many characters from Supercell’s other titles (including Boom Beach and Clash of Clans), the game lets players collect, nurture and train their avatars (raising a cute baby into a fierce Barbarian, for example) and then battle them against friends and family in quick four-minute matches.
It’s gearing up for a May 29 full rollout on iOS and Android, after soft-launching on April 23 in a few key markets (including Canada, Mexico and the Nordics), where it has already generated more than a million downloads and pre-registrations.
With just six games to its name, Supercell has been extremely successful with them in the market. Clash of Clans has earned more than US$5.4 billion since launching in 2012, according to Statista. And Clash Royale (2016) and Brawl Stars (2018) have earned US$2.9 billion and US$1.2 billion, respectively.
Supercell has also been making moves in the last year to expand well beyond mobile games. Last May, the company hired former Netflix and Cartoon Network animation exec Curtis Lelash to start adapting its games as head of film and TV. And it also signed a deal with licensing agency WildBrain CPLG in June 2023 to expand its brands into consumer products.
