We’re excited to share that Drussila Hollanda is joining Supercell as our first-ever Head of New Games. She’ll report directly to our CEO Ilkka, and will be part of the leadership team. Her primary focus will be to make Supercell the best place for new game teams to build the best games.
This is a new role for Supercell, and an important one. One might even wonder if our approach to making new games is changing. Spoiler – it’s not. It is the opposite: we are doubling down on our culture of independent new game teams globally.
Our ambition is sky-high: we want to be the best place for the best new game teams to create the best games that will be remembered forever. Launching new games is harder than ever, AI is disrupting gaming, and combining innovation and scale is a tough challenge for any company. In practical terms, we need to be a better place to build your game than your own startup. To reach this very high level of ambition, we need someone fully focused on supporting the new game teams.
Again, no, this doesn’t change the way we make games or the independence of the new game teams. We do not greenlight games or ideas. Instead, we greenlight teams. Once greenlit, the game team can build the game they want, the way they want to build it. Therefore, Drussila’s role is about putting together the best teams and cultivating the best culture for new game development.
As Ilkka put it:
“This role has been a long time coming but it was a very hard one to fill, because this is not your typical “head of new games” role which directs the type of games the studio builds. So we needed someone exceptional and even more importantly, someone who truly understands and values Supercell’s culture of independent teams.
There is a lot to do for Drussila! Among other things, we have game teams working on new games across three continents, and we have launched Spark to help form the best possible teams, we had the AI Innovation Lab in Helsinki and soon opening in San Francisco. And, we want to constantly make Supercell a better place to build the best games, keep it as “startup” despite our growing size. Drussila is the right person to bring all this together. Her experience and expertise in boosts and bumps of game-making, and deep understanding of Supercell’s culture will set her up for success.”
Some of you might already know Drussila. She is a former Supercellian who was the second game lead on Hay Day, helped shape several new game projects during her time here, and then went on to found Papukaya and build Hive into one of Europe’s top coding schools. With over 20 years of experience in the games industry, including stints at companies such as Digital Chocolate, Rovio, and Wooga, she’s seen it all. Most recently, she’s been working with us on Spark.
She gets what makes Supercell, well, Supercell. More importantly, she already has the trust of the teams creating our future games.
In Drussila’s own words:
“I have to say, this feels like a homecoming. I’ve been lucky enough to lead and be part of both new and live game teams throughout my career, but my true passion has always been on the new game side. I have firsthand experience in taking big risks and failing – A LOT! So I think I can nurture the risk-taking culture here at Supercell. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work alongside, and for the good of, the amazing talent Supercell’s new game teams have.”
Please join us in welcoming her back 💛