Finland's Supercell, the maker of hit mobile game Clash of Clans, has said its core profit rose 8% last year, helped by the launch of a new game and despite the challenge from Nintendo's smash hit Pokemon GO.
Supercell, majority owned by China's Tencent Holdings, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation rose to €917m last year from €848m in 2015.
With largely flat revenue of €2.1 billion, the profit improvement was partly due to lower spending on advertising and the successful launch of its latest game, Clash Royale, it said.
"Despite tighter competition, this was the best year so far in financial terms. Clash Royale was a huge hit," chief executive Ilkka Paananen said.
Clash of Clans, a war strategy game in which players build fortresses, form clans with other players and battle it out in a Medieval-style fantasy world, has remained on the list of top-earning applications since its launch in 2012.
In 2016 it was ranked second after Mixi's Monster Strike, according to research company App Annie. Clash Royale was number five.
Augmented-reality Pokemon GO, which has players walking around real life areas to catch and train Pokemon, has the biggest number of active users, but in revenue terms it fell behind Clash of Clans.
Supercell, also creator of Boom Beach and Hay Day, banks on a handful of games.
This strategy has helped it avoid the problems faced by the likes of rival Rovio Entertainment, which has failed to create a new hit game since its 2009 launch of Angry Birds.
"At the moment, we are not taking new games into beta tests, perhaps later in the year," Paananen said.
