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Tencent Agrees to Acquire Clash of Clans Maker Supercell (rumored valued at $9 bil)

N

Neoxon

Junior Member
So what does this mean for the mobile game? I haven't really played the game, but my little bro played it quite a bit a few years back, plus I see it advertised everywhere.
 
Y

yoonshik

Member
Tencent Holdings Ltd. has reached an agreement to buy Supercell Oy, the Finnish maker of the popular “Clash of Clans” mobile game, a person familiar with the matter said, in a deal that could turn the Chinese internet major into a global videogame powerhouse.

Tencent has been in talks with SoftBank Group Corp. to buy the Japanese telecommunications company’s majority stake in Supercell.

Tencent and SoftBank are set to announce the deal later Tuesday, the person said.
Click to expand...
.
 
S

Sensationalist

Neo Member
Neoxon said:
Well holy shit. Not even Star Wars was worth that much (I think Star Wars was sold to Disney for $4 billion).
Click to expand...

I hope you know already but most reports (I read) seem to indicate it is almost a "charity" aka George Lucas giving his creation to a reliable partner.
 
J

jellies_two

Member
jetsetrez said:
That's a ridiculous amount of money. Man, Star Wars, Marvel, and Minecraft were utter steals.
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I don't think so because despite the popularity of minecraft it was not designed from the ground up to produce revenue the way supercell stuff does. Minecraft cost whatever and who knows if Microsoft will ever get it back but supercell creates rivers of money. Floods of cash. And not off one game but sequential with refinement each iteration.
 
T

Tenebrous

Member
1st Course said:
They bought 84% of the shares for $8.6 bil, giving Supercell a $10.2 bil valuation.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chinas-tencent-acquire-clash-clans-904894
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kvpaw.gif


Fucking. Crazy.
 
L

Longsword

Member
Usobuko said:
Softbank laughing to the bank.

Easiest 4b made within 3 years.
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They made far more than that: controlling stake was bought at 1,5 billion valuation, and remember, they received dividends from the massive profits of Supercell every year. But they needed to raise cash quickly, they have something like 33 billion debt the service thanks to Spring.

Plus they already sunk 22 billion on Spring and have little to show for it. I think this is more of a distressed sale, I doubt they wanted to sell the goose that lays the golden eggs.
 
L

Longsword

Member
Jonbo298 said:
Congrats Softbank. You dumped the next Zynga at its peak.
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Supercell has 4 back-to-back smash hits, unlike Zynga, it is making massive profit, unlike Zynga, and has 100 million active players, and has been going from strength to strength unlike Zynga. Based on Softbank's own noises, this is far more a distressed sale to pay for the debt that Spring is accumulating for them.

I mean of course SC could collapse tomorrow, but there most certainly are no signs of it. And with just 180 employees, it is not like they have massive overhead to worry about.
 
G

GCX

Member
Longsword said:
Supercell has 4 back-to-back smash hits, unlike Zynga, it is making massive profit, unlike Zynga, and has 100 million active players, and has been going from strength to strength unlike Zynga. Based on Softbank's own noises, this is far more a distressed sale to pay for the debt that Spring is accumulating for them.

I mean of course SC could collapse tomorrow, but there most certainly are no signs of it. And with just 180 employees, it is not like they have massive overhead to worry about.
Click to expand...
The biggest difference between Supercell and Zynga is that they haven't made any crazy expansions or hired thousands of people just because they can. Even though their profits would collapse they'd be fine.
 
B

Busty

Banned
I had no idea that TenCent owned Riot Games/League Of Legends too.

Given that they a chunk of Activision and EPIC I wonder if they could be tempted to make a bigger play for a publisher like 2k or even a Hollywood outfit like Wanda did for Legendary?
 
Q

Quonny

Member
Honesty the only mobile game company I have no problem with another company spending mad money on.

They just make hit after hit.
 
B

Busty

Banned
The Last Wizard said:
I need to make a mobile game
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If you can do all the programming I'll draw a pineapple with a face on it which will be the main character.

We'll call it..., Pineapple With A Face On It.

Profits.

Longsword said:
The entire Market Cap of Take2/2K is just 3,2 billion, so it would be relatively small deal compared to Supercell. So my guess is that they do not really want them.
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I'd have thought that Rockstar and its various IPs alone would make it worth a punt to some larger media entity like Time Warner or whatever.

Unless of course, like you say, the books on 2K are pretty terrible. High production costs for relatively small gains outside of GTA games which is the similar to Ubisoft.
 
S

Sulik2

Member
The money in the free to play mobile market is hard to comprehend. Its so gigantic to be so scummy. People love paying to win though. I'm sure it says something about human beings as a species.
 
L

Longsword

Member
Busty said:
If you can do all the programming I'll draw a pineapple with a face on it which will be the main character.

We'll call it..., Pineapple With A Face On It.

Profits.



I'd have thought that Rockstar and its various IPs alone would make it worth a punt to some larger media entity like Time Warner or whatever.

Unless of course, like you say, the books on 2K are pretty terrible. High production costs for relatively small gains outside of GTA games which is the similar to Ubisoft.
Click to expand...

Yup, profitability for Take 2 has always been a stumbling block outside GTA.

Ubi and Take2 are massively dependent on just one or two game series. Ironically, both might be worth far more if chopped to pieces and sold separately.

Supercell's strength is ability to make string of smash hits that are popular for years.
 
J

JPS Kai

Member
That's one way to grab an established user base.

I wonder if this is a better buy for the gaming market than King.com was. I'd be interested to see how the two pay off for their respective owners.
 
D

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
Unlike Zynga, Supercell isn't reliant on a third party platform for its use acquisition (Facebook). I think Tencent knows what it's doing.
 
1

1st Course

Member
Video Game M&A deals really accelerated in the recent years:

2014: Microsoft bought Minecraft for $2.5 bil
2015: Activision bought King for $5.9 bil
2016: Tencent bought Supercell for $8.6 bil

Every year set a new record.
 
P

ps3ud0

Member
Really puts console gaming in perspective - thats so much money but its for a company thats geared just to make floods of money...

ps3ud0 8)
 
K

KimiNewt

Scored 3/100 on an Exam
ps3ud0 said:
Really puts console gaming in perspective - thats so much money but its for a company thats geared just to make floods of money...

ps3ud0 8)
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Why would anyone make console games when they could make cheaper mobile games and earn loads more? Gaming is over as we know it, pack your bags and say your eulogies.

Incidentally, anyone ever heard of Kings of the Realm? Its developers are hiring close to me.
 
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