The authors of Clash of Clans and Clash Royale admitted that they underestimated the competition in the freeplay games market and worked incorrectly with the players.
In April last year, the indicators of the two main Supercell titles began to fall. This happened despite the fact that the Finnish company continued to actively buy traffic. At the end of August, Clash Royale did not enter the Top 10 highest-grossing mobile games, and Clash of Clans, which topped the chart back in January, was in 8th position.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen admitted that their marketing ideas were wrong, and the competition in the market is much higher than it was before.
Supercell realized, TouchArcade writes, that they did not listen to the complaints of their players (for example, they did not immediately give the opportunity to block emoticons in Clash Royale and delayed updates). The company realized this mistake and set about correcting it.
According to the results of December 2016, Clash Royale is the second game in the world by revenue, and Clash of Clans is the fifth.
Sources: The Wall Street Journal, TouchArcade