The last major update on the freemium mobile strategy game “Clash of Clans” happened last March and thus far Finnish game developer Supercell has yet to release the next round of upgrades.
However, it seems that the changes would not be in the mobile game per se but on the ownership of Supercell.
Many people and gamers do not know it yet but the majority shares of the game development company Supercell is actually owned Japanese telecommunications giant SoftBank Group Corp.
SoftBank bought a 51% stake in Supercell in 2013 for $1.53 billion. Last year, the Japanese telecommunications firm raised its stake on Supercell to 73% but it did not publicly disclose how much it paid for doing so.
However, sources inside Supercell revealed that the company was already valued at US$5.25 billion as of last year so people can do the math and figure out how much stake SoftBank actually invested in the company.
Tencent wants to come in
It seems that another upgrade or update is about to come not in the game again per se but on the ownership of Supercell as there are reports stating that Chinese internet company Tencent Holdings Ltd. is currently in talks with SoftBank Group Corp to buy its share with Supercell, details the Wall Street Journal.
While the negotiations between Tencent and SoftBank are still in its early stages, the possibility of the Japanese telecommunications company giving up the majority of its share in the Finnish game development company is reportedly high. However, the decision will be in the hands of Supercell founders, which was part of the agreement they had when SoftBank bought into their company.
Last year, Chinese online game developer Giant Interactive Group also collaborated with Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. and held talks with SoftBank and Supercell over a possible acquisition deal. But it seems the negotiations got into a stalemate because the parties were not able to agree on the price.
Tencent President Martin Lau and Chief Strategy Officer James Mitchell reportedly flew to Helsinki in Finland recently to convince Supercell’s founders to support a sale. However, the Supercell’s founders reportedly preferred to keep the company under the management of SoftBank because the Japanese firm has reportedly given them complete autonomy despite their limited ownership.
Altering the gaming industry’s landscape
The tie-up between Tencent and Supercell would definitely alter the global gaming industry’s landscape by creating a dominant global games publisher offering some of the world’s highest grossing games for both mobile devices and personal computers.
Under the ownership of SoftBank, Supercell has largely operated as an independent studio and following SoftBank’s 73% acquisition of the game development company, CEO Ikka Paananen revealed that the studio was still in full control of the future and will continue to operate independently, details Gamasutra.
Assuming Supercell gives the thumbs up to the Tencent deal, it is likely that the Chinese company will have to shell out about $5.5 billion to be able to buy out SoftBank completely out of the Finnish game development company.
Supercell would subsequently be added to Tencent’s impressive roster of subsidiaries that include the likes of Riot Games, the creator of “League of Legends,” the mobile messaging service WeChat, among many others.
As far as the game is concerned, Supercell has been cracking down on cheaters on “Clash of Clans” since last month because it is no longer happy with their unfair playing schemes, much to the detriment of the other players who are playing the game fairly.
Supercell has been receiving complaints from players since receiving the “Clash of Clans” Town Hall 11 updates released last December. It subsequently came up with patches to address the issues and problems encountered by gamers.
In March, Supercell released another round of updates to “Clash of Clans” which brought a lot of good things to the game. However, it also came with a slew of problems and complaints from gamers.
The huge update to “Clash of Clans” arrived with loads of changes, new troops, additional features, and is regarded as one of the biggest updates that fans and gamers have seen in a while.