Business Model Canvas #1: Supercell

Supercell is a mobile game development company based out of Helsinki, Finland.  The developer has been enormously successful since the founding of the company in 2010 and has recently been valued at $800m USD. 

Supercell focuses on making free to play games for mobile devices that earn revenue primarily through the sales of virtual goods; this model is similar to that of Zynga’s Farmville.  The company is currently seeing about 8.5m users log in and play their games, generating revenues of over 2.4m USD some days.  The mobile games category is incredibly competitive; capturing, retaining, and monetizing users is the key to success.  Supercell has been able to add value to the category in user retention.  The attractive graphics, addictive gameplay, and innovative controls of their games keep users engaged and willing to play day after day.  Supercell has also unlocked the secrets to incite casual gamers to pay real money for virtual goods.

The ecosystem that Supercell thrives in isn't too complicated.  Key relationships with the App Stores of Google and Apple provide much of the activities surrounding customers, revenues, and advertising.  This simple system comes at a high cost of commissions going to the app stores, Apple takes nearly 30% of gross revenues outside of ad sales.

The attached Business Model Canvas is based on various sources on the internet found below.  These numbers are very rough due to a lack of public information.

Sources:
Number of casual gamers:         http://www.casualgamesassociation.org/
Paying vs non-paying casual:         http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/video-games-facebook-addictinggames-295720
Number of mobile gamers:         http://www.pocketgamer.biz/r/PG.Biz/Newzoo+news/news.asp?c=48541
Paying vs non-paying mobile: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-03-29-digital-game-sales-growing-33-percent
Avg mobile gaming sale:         http://skillz.com/corporate/2013/03/05/65-mobile-gaming-stats-to-impress-your-friends
SuperCell's Users:         http://pulse2.com/2013/04/18/supercell-2-4-million-daily-revenue-84435/
Daily advertising cost:         http://www.trademob.com/infographic-calculating-the-cost-of-a-top-10-rank-in-the-app-store/
Supercell employees:         http://www.crunchbase.com/company/supercell
Server costs:                 http://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/calc5.html#key=a-european-web-app
Current valuation:         http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/28/supercell-2/