Supercell's acquisition of Metacore expected to close this month

What the report says

Diego Argüello,Contributing Editor, News,GameDeveloper.comSeptember 3, 20262 Min ReadImage via MetacoreSupercell, the company known for the likes of Clash Royale and Brawl Stars, has signed a deal to acquire Merge Mansion developer Metacore.The acquisition, which is expected to be completed at the end of September, is the latest example of major restructurings in the mobile game space. This deal itself comes as t Metacore, which restructured in May ahead the decision behind its own restructuring was to "better align with the core business, improve efficiency of operations, and respond to an increasingly competitive market environment."According to comments from Metacore in May, its restructure and resulting acquisition by Supercell aims to "better align with the core business, improve efficiency of operations, and respond to an increasingly competitive market environment." This comes at a time where Merge Mansion's growth has "plateaued over the past few years" since its 2020 launch, as well when new investments have not succeeded in launching new games globally.Once the deal is closed, Merge Mansion will officially become part of Supercell's live games portfolio.

In the meantime, both companies are already working to plan the transition of the game."As we move into this next phase together with Supercell, I'm excited about the opportunities this creates for the game, our team and our players," Metacore CEO Mika Tammenkoski says in this week's announcement. "Supercell's expertise in operating and growing global live games over many years gives Merge Mansion the best possible foundation for long-term success."The Next Phase of MetacoreThe acquisition is just one part of what Metacore called "its next phase" back in May. At the time, uncertainty over Merge Mansion's future led to the company initiating change negotiations in Finland.

According to information shared at the time, the studio would "consider reducing up to 160 roles" in the country if plans were to be realized.Moreover, Metacore was also investigating "what kind of changes there could be" to operations in Germany and Sweden. None of these plans are mentioned in this most recent deal announcement. In addition, the terms of the transaction will not be disclosed."These are very difficult discussions," Tammenkoski said in the announcement back in May. "We have built an organization with growth ambitions that have not materialized as expected. The competition has become tougher every year since we launched Merge Mansion and created the 'merge 2' category as a pioneer.

Key details

We need to make changes to remain competitive and to give Merge Mansion the best possible chance to succeed going forward."Supercell, which sits under the Tencent umbrella, has spent the last couple of years buying majority stakes in and acquiring studios. In 2022, Supercell also ended development on two of its projects: Clash Quest and Everdale.In April, the studio CEO and co-founder received a BAFTA Fellowship award in recognition of his long-standing contribution to the video game industry.Top StoriesAbout the AuthorDiego ArgüelloContributing Editor, News, GameDeveloper.comDiego Nicolás Argüello is a freelance journalist and critic from Argentina.

Video games helped him to learn English, so now he covers them for places like The New York Times, NPR, Rolling Stone, and more. He also runs Into the Spine, a site dedicated to fostering and supporting new writers, and co-hosted Turnabout Breakdown, a podcast about the Ace Attorney series. He’s most likely playing a rhythm game as you read this.See more from Diego Argüello