Rick Crane leads the creator programme at Supercell. He is responsible for the Finnish mobile game maker’s strategy for how to work with creators — and turning that vision into a reality.
Influencers and creators are vital in today's media mix because they offer authenticity and trust that traditional advertising is sometimes perceived to lack. Their engaged audiences see them as relatable peers, making recommendations for products or services that feel genuine.
In the world of gaming, creators are essential for a game's success. And perhaps more so in the fiercely competitive world of mobile gaming, where launching a new product or promoting an existing one, is a monumental task.
Yet, despite this, Supercell has achieved remarkable growth. We reached $3 billion in revenue in 2024, engaged more than 250 million monthly active players (that’s roughly the size of the U.S.), and experienced a 77% YoY growth. This is powered in part by the incredible strength of our creator community.
And that’s no surprise, considering the creator economy is going from strength to strength, across products, platforms, and communities, including YouTube, where we find some of our most passionate fans. These individuals not only create content, many employ other people too. Creators are start-ups in the entertainment industry, with video editors, PR companies, and top-notch storytelling skills.
This creator and brand partnership should be part of every marketer’s media mix, as done well, it’s an engine for business growth and loyalty. We recognised we could unlock significant growth by supporting the full creator journey; inspiring users to create, educating superfans to grow, and helping established content creators to earn more. This is how we did that.
From players to creators
Our journey with creators began organically. We’ve always valued the voices of our players, recognising the passion of those creating content around our games. It began with a desire to foster these relationships, creating an exclusive group that received early launch information and interacted with our developers.
This approach, rooted in genuine relationships, served us well. However, we realised Supercell needed to transform our creator programme to scale.
Our objective was to build a programme that:
- Allows existing fans to develop their passion for the game,
- Helps nurture fans into creators, and identify and incentivise growing creators,
- Enables large-scale creator collaborations that drive win-win outcomes, and
- Retains high-value creators.
We were starting from a moderate point. In 2018, creators could sign up and get creator codes, which could be used to get certain items within games. At that point we worked with around 1,200 creators.
Once we evolved our programme, we hit a high of nearly 300K connected creators.
How to balance incentives with the game economy
Our approach is simple: start by listening.
To allow fans to develop their passion we embed community managers, who are Supercell employees, directly within each internal team focused on a game. They use tools like sentiment analysis and player forums to identify key concerns and trends. They also host targeted events, like question and answer sessions with developers, and create content that addresses player feedback directly.
To nurture superfans into creators, we launched the Creator Academy. This eight-week in-person or virtual programme includes modules on content creation best practices, community building, and platform-specific strategies (e.g. YouTube analytics).
We also have an academy video library, where creators can dip in and out of training videos via our platform:
The academy provides templates for thumbnails, intro videos, and social media posts, lowering the barrier to entry for getting started as a creator.
The whole process is gamified with tiered rewards based on content quality and engagement, such as early access to game features or exclusive in-game items. And it’s free, meaning any passionate creator has access.
To keep creators engaged there are challenges and content prompts, like making videos with specific criteria. For example: "Create a video of the latest update for Brawl Stars using the hashtag #BrawlStarsUpdate", or “Share this QR code to get access to our latest game, mo.co”:
By doing this we can track if a person participates and reward them with in-game items for themselves or their followers.
To maintain a healthy game economy, we cap the number of rewards and ensure they don’t disrupt the game’s balance. That means there aren’t too many ‘free’ items given out making it unfair on non-creator players.
Measuring impact beyond downloads
To track our goal of driving game downloads, we rely a lot on first-party data. We look at creator consistency, retention and performance, and use dashboards to track how they connect to player behaviour and sentiment. There are many metrics both in-game and across social channels we follow to understand how it all links together.
The results speak for themselves. By working closely with our game teams, marketing, and our Creator Program, we saw standout momentum in 2024 — stronger creator engagement, increased positive sentiment, and increased player activity. The future looks brighter than ever, and we’re excited to keep building even more powerful tools for our creators.
"Seeing the growth of Supercell's creator programme over the past three years has been very inspiring,” says Joel Jansson, YouTube Partner Manager. “In 2024, we saw engaged views on Supercell content grow +199% YoY, from a very solid base. They really are a showcase of what brands can achieve at scale with creator partners."
And our creators are finding great success. Our creators have 2.2 billion followers, with 229 billion content views, across their platforms.
Practical advice for smaller brands
It’s not just about numbers. One of the most meaningful things for us is watching creators grow inside our programme; seeing someone go from being a fan of the game to becoming one of the top voices in the community — even turning content creation into their full-time career.
For example, M1CHA3L_YT joined our platform with a small audience and, after we invited him to our Creator Academy, experienced tremendous growth. These stories, where we help creators turn their passion into a career, are invaluable.
For brands with more limited resources it’s okay to start small. The key is to be intentional.
You can, for instance, create a simple application form using Google Forms to gather creator information and interests. Then, launch a private Discord server to foster direct communication and collaboration. Finally, implement a “Creator Spotlight” programme, where you feature one creator each week on your social media channels. Building this culture is key, and the scale will follow.
Our creator programme has not only driven significant growth for Supercell, but it has also empowered countless individuals to pursue their passion. By focusing on genuine relationships, providing valuable resources, and measuring impact beyond downloads, you too can build a thriving creator network.
