Supercell has long struggled to find games that meet its standards for surefire hits.

The company has canceled several projects like Rush Wars, Clash Quest, Clash Mini, Everdale, and Floodrush. Many of these games, such as Clash Mini, spent extended periods in beta and soft launch phases, continually pivoting to find metrics strong enough to justify global release.

These setbacks, combined with Brawl Stars' unexpected resurgence, prompted CEO Ilkka Paananen to reconsider the company's risk management strategy.

Supercell’s Eino Joas put it bluntly: “We believe that taking risks is a critical part of Supercell culture. We do not want to become a company that is so tied up with success that we don’t dare risk failure.”

In 2023, Supercell took that to heart and tried moving toward test releases and betas intended to generate hype and get rapid feedback from its large fanbase, especially from its core U.S. audience.

Shifting Approaches

As part of its 2023 experimentation, Supercell tested two different games with distinct strategies in close succession: Floodrush as an open beta and Mo.co as a closed invite-only beta. Though these games represented different genres (Floodrush competed more directly with Squad Busters in gameplay), testing them in proximity probably allowed for comparative analysis of player reception.

The outcome was clear: Floodrush was canceled in August 2023, while Mo.co quietly continued development based on collected feedback. Despite the mixed results, Supercell decided to focus on trusting teams and launching, even if it wasn’t certain about the game itself.

This approach would be about responding to issues on a live game and giving the team an opportunity to prove they could adapt in public, something Brawl Stars had eventually managed, despite its initial soft launch period.

The first major initiative was the swift release of Squad Busters in May 2024. The game launched after just two closed beta tests in 2023 and less than a month in soft launch.

While Squad Busters generated revenue, the overall performance disappointed as player numbers declined rapidly before stabilizing in Q3 2024. According to Joas, who led the launch: "Trying to make a game that appeals to everyone ended up it not being perfect for anyone. Casual audiences have a hard time finding it since it looks like a battle game, something they are not naturally drawn to. For mid-core audiences the game appears too simple, easy, lacking depth and feeling that it is a skill-based game."

As Squad Busters launched and Project R.I.S.E. entered invite-only beta tests, public attention on Mo.co faded — until now.

What is Mo.co?

True to Supercell's philosophy, Mo.co aims to make a core genre — in this case co-op action RPGs like Diablo 4 — more accessible for mobile players. The result is a casual experience that preserves essential genre elements: gear progression, XP grinding, and cooperative boss battles.

The game features a top-down view with colorful, anime-inspired art that stands apart from Supercell's other games. Also unlike those other games, Mo.co monetizes entirely through cosmetics, and its quick, drop-in/drop-out gameplay makes it particularly approachable for mobile audiences.

The Launch

Rather than a typical soft launch or full release, Supercell opted for an invite-only approach for Mo.co’s launch. Invite codes were distributed via third parties, which had the effect of gatekeeping based on whether or not a potential player was ready to put in a small amount of effort to play it.

The idea was this self-selected motivated player base would be more willing to provide feedback and potentially monetize than the general population.

The release came with very short notice, likely aiming to generate buzz through a surprise drop, though the invite-only restriction seemed to limit this impact.

Invite codes came primarily from three sources:

• Streamers were provided with QR codes that expired after approximately 20 minutes, encouraging live viewership rather than code sharing.
• Existing players were able to generate a few invite codes upon reaching level 5, leveraging word-of-mouth marketing.
• The Mo.co website featured a three-question application form, serving as an access point for players without streamer connections or friends with codes.

This strategy created some confusion. Many potential players thought it was a beta test or simply downloaded the game without noticing its invite-only nature, only to be surprised by the code prompt.

The minimal marketing window (one-two days before launch) added to the confusion, with many dedicated Supercell fans unaware of the release as player counts took four to five days to grow. Let's examine some metrics to see how well this launch strategy has worked so far.

First 30 Days

These download numbers don’t necessarily reflect those who actually got to play, as the requirement for the invite code shows up when first running the game. Once it was clear that an invite code would be required, downloads started dropping off fairly quickly by 94% from just 333K on day one to 20K by day 30.

Supercell seems to have turned off the invite system recently. This implies it isn’t confident in the current system and is looking to do more testing before including new players. According to the team, it was due to social media becoming a graveyard of expired invites (in addition to them being sold). It’s unclear if Supercell will reintroduce invites at a later date or simply remove the invite system altogether.

You can see clearly the result of the lack of marketing and invites with the number of active users it took five to six days to hit its peak. While the initial 75% decline isn't encouraging for early retention, daily active users have stabilized at just under 400K for the past two weeks, indicating a core audience to build upon.

In a way, this can be seen as an indicator that the invite-only system worked in selecting a more dedicated audience.

ARPDAU dropped quickly, settling at $0.05. This does show that these players are likely to be the anticipated fan audience. Supercell can use a lot of this initial purchase data around the various IAPs to gauge interest from more dedicated players first.

It's also important to note Mo.co has no pay-to-win elements, whereas most Supercell games arguably include significant pay-to-win components and a PvP focus.

Monetization Design

Though Mo.co monetizes exclusively through cosmetics, it employs some innovative approaches:

• No-duplicates gacha system: Players purchase cosmetic sets using premium currency through a gacha system of around six items. Each acquired item is removed from the pool, ensuring players can complete entire sets within a predetermined number of purchases. 
• Event-tied progression systems: This is the more innovative approach. Active events typically feature their own short-term, battle pass-like progression track. These provide most rewards for free but include premium items requiring pass purchases ($3-10) to unlock and appear frequently enough to potentially encourage multiple weekly IAP purchases.

• Elite pass: Once players reach level 30, they become "elite hunters" with a new leveling system and a $19.99 elite battle pass option. This system uses currency earned from elite quests to purchase items from the reward track using a segmentation system similar to Helldivers 2 and Marvel Rivals.

Retention Design

The core gameplay loop centers on character and gear progression, along with unlocking new areas and raid bosses. This straightforward approach is structured around character leveling, daily jobs, longer-term projects, and NPC-assigned missions.

As players progress through levels and gear, they engage more with endgame content — primarily co-op boss raids and PvP. This system is crucial for retention as it's the only feature that truly encourages playing the classic MMORPG roles (tank, healer, DPS) cooperatively to overcome time constraints.

Mo.co offers various PvP modes including solo, team-based, and PvPvE point-based competitions, plus special limited-time events. PvP is vital for post-content retention and makes continual gear upgrading meaningful.

Unfortunately, Supercell has struggled to make PvP modes engaging, acknowledging this challenge in Discord with announcements such as, “We still want to throw some PvP events, not only because we still have a few players who enjoy those, but also because we want to keep trying new things and see what resonates better with you.”

Key Successes and Areas of Improvement

This launch definitely had some improvements and additional content compared with the closed beta, but still has some areas that need work. Supercell will definitely keep improving the game with this data and feedback, but contrary to its recent stance, it’ll likely be far less public with no more invites and low press coverage.

Successes

• Compelling cooperative core loop with light social.
• Well-designed distillation of MMORPG/ARPG systems for casual players.
• Very accessible gameplay, especially for a mobile RPG.
• Light innovations on monetization through the various passes.

Areas of Improvement

• PvP may be an audience mismatch and isn’t compelling.
• The current endgame is reached within weeks, potentially leading to future churn.
• Cosmetics are all over the place and often not particularly attractive.
• Limiting monetization to cosmetics may be problematic, especially if the core is PvE.
• Social systems are weak and cooperation limited to varying modes.

The launch strategy of using a more dedicated player base has been useful in identifying and starting to correct some of these issues. The speed at which content is churned through and the balance of gear is being rapidly tweaked, and various PvP modes are being tested to identify what players actually enjoy.

With this smaller player group there is a higher likelihood that reactions to these elements reaches the Discord feedback channels and iterations are tested by this same group, resulting in more than just analytics numbers.

Future Outlook

Supercell clearly stated after Squad Busters' disappointing performance that its new philosophy embraces ongoing public improvements rather than risk-averse early cancellations: "We certainly aren't giving up either on Squad Busters or new games in general — and neither are great developers around the world!"

This approach was partly inspired by Brawl Stars, which nearly faced cancellation before launch but achieved impressive turnarounds, especially last year. Supercell has demonstrated this commitment through significant pivots in Squad Busters, removing entire systems and extensively revamping others, including substantial changes to monetization.

With the future of Mo.co itself relatively secure, the question then falls to whether or not this was the right launch strategy. The invite-only method still acted as a form of soft launch, but with more control over incoming players through invite distribution, giving them a level of control a normal soft launch usually doesn’t have. While this did succeed in gathering more dedicated players as testers, it also created confusion and difficulty acquiring even those players.

This strategy at least gathered some useful data and is pulling in a lot of feedback from Discord. Even within its first 30 days, the team has made meaningful adjustments, including nerfing a weapon so significantly that it needed renaming and running gear preview events to gather early feedback.

Squad Busters has shown drastic public pivots can still be too slow to retain the player base and can create some downsides. So far, neither strategy has demonstrated that it is superior to soft launch.

The next game in development likely to be part of this process is Project R.I.S.E., which has also struggled to find its groove based on initial play-tester feedback. With Supercell currently running invite-only closed beta tests on the title, we wouldn’t be surprised to see an invite-only public test that would hopefully be better communicated.

With Squad Busters missing the mark and Mo.co also seeming to shut off invites quickly, Supercell may be questioning how big of an audience it really wants while it is fixing things in public.

Given the issues with communicating the launch, controlling invite distribution, and the anti-hype that resulted, we don’t think this will be a successful strategy for smaller developers. Supercell has a large enough fanbase that it can pull in a decent audience with this approach, but it still has the feeling of a slightly less closed beta or overly complicated soft launch.

Game developers should keep an eye on where Supercell pivots from here, both on Mo.co and future releases as this, much like the game, is definitely a work in progress.

We anticipate Supercell will continue adjusting this launch strategy while restricting the size of an initial launch somewhere between a geographic soft launch and an invite-only process. The company has been doing a lot of hiring to find fast, resilient teams to launch and quickly pivot future game projects, with Project R.I.S.E. likely joined by a number of other potential tests in the next couple of years.

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In Other News

💸 Funding & Acquisitions:

• S.Korea’s Krafton to nurture 6 new game studios in India
• Blue Ocean Games announces $30M fund to invest in indie games via game challenge
• Sesh raises $7M for new fan communities and launches member card
• Rise of Fearless launches with $700K funding goal to empower African gamers 
• B3 partner with Reach Labs to launch user acquisition platform and GameChain
• PlayVS expands reach with acquisitions of Generation Esports and Playfly College Esports

📊 Business & Products:

• GamesBeat spins off as independent media brand, appoints new leadership
• Vendetta is a new games publishing agency with an indie game spotlight initiative
• Roblox is letting creators fine-tune their prices by country
• 80% of Roblox users are on mobile, contributing 46% of Robux revenue
• Dutch advertising self-regulator partially upholds loot box complaint against My.Games

👾 Miscellaneous:

• Riot Games’ Valorant Mobile set for China launch
• Duolingo is getting a chess course
• MENA Games Industry Awards 2025 finalists revealed
• Ghost of Yōtei hits the PS5 in October
• With a million sold, Soulstone Survivors will come to consoles in 2025

A Word from Our Sponsor: Heroic Labs

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Heroic Labs is always happy to chat to game teams, so don't hesitate to reach out.

Content Worth Consuming

What to Expect From the Mobile Gaming Industry in 2025 (gamerefinery.com): “The mobile gaming landscape is ever-changing, and while some trends have staying power, others are fleeting. Last year saw a rise in anime-inspired RPGs, crossplay and more intricate monetization strategies. With 2025 in full swing, we’re looking at which trends are sticking around—and what fresh ones are starting to take their place.”

Halo Founder Thinks Fortnite UEFN Is the Future of Gaming! (GameMakers YouTube Chanel): “Alex Seropian (Bungie co-founder) shares his experience developing for Epic's UEFN platform in this exclusive interview. Discover insights on platform capabilities, economics, audience demographics, and future predictions for Fortnite's creator ecosystem.”

Tencent's Amir Satvat Flexes the Data Muscle for Good (The Fourth Curtain): “Our guest Amir Satvat wants to get you a job in games. A business development executive at Tencent, he won the Game Changer award for the incredible community he built which has helped over 3K gamedevs find their next role with mentorship, mock interviews and more.”

China(Episode 20) (Gamecraft Podcast): “Mitch and Blake look at the current state of the vitally important Chinese gaming market, on the precipice of a bitter trade war resulting from the Trump tariffs. They review the history of the games business in China, discuss the reasons China is so competitive in the global gaming market, and look at how some of the ways the Chinese market diverged from other markets influenced the strategies of Chinese game companies.”

Toxic Culture in Game Development: The Real Metrics that Matter with Charlie Sull (Building Better Games): “How would you know if your studio’s culture is toxic – before it’s too late? In this exclusive conversation, we talk with Charlie Sull, co-founder of CultureX and researcher with MIT, about how to spot, measure, and fix toxic workplace culture – especially in the high-stakes world of game development.”

Creating the Super Earth of Helldivers 2 with Arrowhead's Johan Pilestedt (The AIAS Game Maker’s Notebook): “Trent Kusters chats with Johan Pilestedt, the Game Director on Arrowhead Game Studios' smash-hit, Helldivers 2. Together they discuss his path in games that led to the founding of Arrowhead alongside his classmates in Sweden; the development and release of their first title, Magicka; the original ideas around that laid the foundation for the Helldivers universe; their ideas around game design; and the ups and downs of the seven year development journey of Helldivers 2.”

Behind the Headlines at Valve's Rocky Start (gamedeveloper.com): “My first formative memory of Valve was in 2009, when Left 4 Dead 2 was released on consoles and PC. At just barely sixteen years old, I didn’t think about the developer who made the game, or how long Valve had been shaping the lives of players. I just knew I really enjoyed hunting zombies, and that the game itself was amazing to play.”

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