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The founder of the studio behind popular mobile games such as Clash of Clans said AI represents a “massive opportunity” for the sector, despite a Google “world model” rattling gaming stocks.
Ilkka Paananen, chief executive of Supercell, told the FT that AI would be a boon to established games developers to improve existing titles as well as allowing start-ups to “reinvent completely new gameplay”.
“I think it’s going to be a massive opportunity for everybody in the industry, both for incumbents like ourselves but also for start-ups,” he said.
His comments come weeks after Google’s recent debut of a new “world model” called Project Genie, capable of generating dynamic 3D virtual worlds from a simple prompt. The release sent Wall Street into a panic about the impact of AI on the video games market.
Leading games companies shed billions of dollars in market value in a single day, with virtual world game developer Roblox down 12 per cent, Grand Theft Auto maker Take-Two Interactive falling 10 per cent and gaming software group Unity dropping 12 per cent.
Paananen insisted “we are extremely excited about AI”, even while saying Supercell, the maker of hit games such as Clash Royale and Brawl Stars, is “still a very human-centric company”.
“Supercell’s approach is the opposite of a top-down company so the last thing I will do is say, ‘Everybody has to use AI and if you don’t you’re going to be fired’,” he added. “I trust our creative people and I know many of them are already using AI to boost what they do.”
Paananen’s comments were echoed by Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two’s chief executive, who last week said he was “a little confused” by the stock market turbulence because the company was “actively embracing generative AI” to reduce costs.
Project Genie is “very early” and “not even in the same ballpark” of capabilities as the game engines used to produce immersive software today, Zelnick added.
Despite the potential productivity improvements from AI, Finland-based Supercell is investing heavily to come up with new titles, after it on Tuesday reported a 4 per cent drop in sales last year.
Paananen said Supercell — which was bought by China’s Tencent in 2016 — had doubled its investment in new games development last year and plans to double it again this year.
“There hasn’t been enough innovation in the [mobile games] market,” he said, which he blamed for lacklustre growth across the industry in the years following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Supercell’s headcount grew 30 per cent to 890 employees last year as the group went on a hiring spree while many games companies are laying off staff.
In December, Supercell ended development of one of its latest titles, Squad Busters, despite the game bringing in more than $100mn in revenue since it launched in 2024, because it did not hit its “quality bar”.
But the continued strength of Brawl Stars and a huge resurgence of the decade-old Clash Royale ensured the company had a “fantastic year” last year after a “massive growth spurt” in 2024, Paananen said.
The Helsinki-based company generated €2.65bn in revenue in 2025, down 4 per cent on the previous year, with underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation up 6 per cent to €932mn.
Those figures reflect how much its roughly 290mn monthly active players spent last year. Under Finnish accounting standards — which defer sales of in-game items such as virtual currency until they are used by players — its reported revenues jumped from €1.9bn in 2024 to €3.2bn last year, with earnings up from €300mn to €1.3bn.