Crucible Moments Supercell ft Ilkka Paananen - How an Early Pivot Led to ‘Clash of Clans’ and ‘Brawl Stars’
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Nov 6, 2025 
Ilkka Paananen, Co-founder and CEO of Supercell, shares his journey of transforming the gaming industry with a unique company culture that empowers developers. He reveals the bold decision to pivot from an early cross-platform strategy to focusing solely on mobile gaming, leading to hits like Clash of Clans and Brawl Stars. Joost van Dreunen provides insights on Supercell's evolving market strategy and challenges, including their creative approach to failures and a bold reinvention for the AI era, ensuring the company remains resilient and innovative.
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Flip The Org Chart
- Small, empowered teams closest to the product should own the vision and decisions for their games.
- Supercell flipped the org chart to treat game teams as independent startups to preserve creative ownership.
Killing Gunshine After Series A
- After raising Series A on a cross-platform thesis, Supercell killed Gunshine months later when metrics failed to scale.
- They returned investor capital and pivoted fully to mobile despite the risk and recent funding.
Fail Early, Fail Smart
- Fail early and fail smart by testing quickly and learning from outcomes rather than hiding failures.
- Use short experiments and transparent metrics to decide which projects get additional resources.