Supercell has established two new studios in the US. The managers of this studio are former employees of Riot Games, Blizzard and Valve.
Nearly a year after Supercell announced its first studio in North America, team leader Ryan Wener announced that the company is currently building not one but two development teams. “This week, six new hires joined me on an exciting journey to build new games at Supercell through two new game teams,” Wener wrote on LinkedIn.
The two studios feature many experienced figures.
People Known As Game Lead Maya Kylmamaa is a former Riot Games senior software engineer and League of Legends technical lead who has also worked at Blizzard, DICE, and Lionhead Studios. Kevin J Bray plays the role of game engineer, former developer of Riot Games, who also served as CEO of Tonk Tonk Games. Lead game designer Candace Thomas is a former senior manager and lead game designer at Riot Games, who also worked at Blizzard for 11 years (on the World of Warcraft and Diablo franchises). Art Lead Charles Lee is a former Riot Games artist who contributed to the Arcane series and worked at Blizzard, EA, and Obsidian Entertainment.
Thomas left his senior management position at Riot Games to join Supercell. “Leaving Riot was the hardest decision I ever made, and I miss the team so much, but I know they will continue to do great things even without me,” he said.
The second studio will be run by Game Lead Steve Desilets – the former creative director of Amazon and Electronic Arts, who also worked at Zynga and Valve. Lead Artist Matt Mocarski, who has experience working at companies like King, Blizzard, Crystal Dynamics, Amazon and NCSoft.
Supercell launches two new studios hoping to bring more quality games.
“Throughout my career, I have valued creating and celebrating the creativity of others above all with utmost support, kindness, and honesty with clients,” Desilets wrote on LinkedI, ca. Praise Supercell’s work culture. It is not clear what projects the aforementioned people will develop, but their work certainly includes a lot of anticipated games in the future.
Last year, the Finnish game company said the US-based game team would “build the ambitious games that players expect from Supercell”. They want to develop games for other platforms like PC and console and mobile. Supercell hasn’t launched a major new game since Brawl Stars in 2018. While Supercell’s card-based Clash Royale brought in big revenue last month. The company is known for shutting down many of its ongoing projects recently including shutting down Clash Quest and Everdale earlier this year.
Supercell started building two new game development teams as a way to grow its brand. Led by Steve Desilets and Matt Mocarski with the experience they have from Valve, Zynga, EA will make game development possible.
