How about a gem mine?

[MarvinMurray]

Never been on this forum before...so sorry if this is an old idea. Take that back, I posted here a couple of times a while ago...anyway...how about a gem mine? You know, so we can get more gems...especially since supercell wants us to use more gems. And now that you need more gems to advance...it seems logical...

[WarrenJames]

It hasn't been on the forum... in a short while.

That is currently a Ruled Out Idea, as listed in the stuck thread at the top of the thread list. It tends to get resubmitted as an idea in cycles, like most other Ruled Out Ideas.

The idea is quite old (in game terms), and has been denied. Sorry.

Gem Boxes were added to help solve the issue of a shortage of free gems, so think of that, and regular yard work around the Village, as a kind of Gem Mine. Supercell does want people to have fun with features that cost gems, but can't give out too much, or cut into their own income source.

Unlike other places, these guys do not use outside ads to help stay funded, or cheap gimmicks to make you spend gems... which does attest to their marketing, management, and programming skills.

[Goerge5]

Supercell does want people to have fun with features that cost gems, but can't give out too much, or cut into their own income source.

I am sorry, but this just made me about die a little. Haven't you seen the estimates of what SC makes a day?
I mean do a google search on it, its insane how much they make.

That being said, I agree with you about the rest.

[WarrenJames]

I am sorry, but this just made me about die a little. Haven't you seen the estimates of what SC makes a day?
I mean do a google search on it, its insane how much they make.

That being said, I agree with you about the rest.

One of many things Supercell does well is number crunching. I bring this up because it is relavent in a few cases.

The gross earnings of Supercell is quite large, there is no denying that. However, they do have to spend money on staff, many being experts in set fields, office space, a server farm, and maintenance on on said server, as well as advertising development, high end computers for the graphics department, and likely several other things. What really matters is the net profit (Gross - Expenses = Net) that they get to keep and can put into other things, like special projects for some interesting ideas, or the next official Clash Con.

Given how they have enough funds to buy a Superbowl Ad slot, with a famous actor for the ad, they would have to be making a very good sum of money. But really, that was an investment on keeping the game growing by telling more people about it; albeit a rather large investment.

So yes, their net profits is sizable, but there is a catch. They have to keep working hard to make sure their best game is running strong and keeps making them money. They have to be super careful on every decision, or the whole thing will fall like a house of cards, given how fickle popularity can be. They have to walk a fine line between having fun with the game they love, and making money. Too much goofing around, and they can't pay the bills, and too much money grabbing, and they tick off their playerbase. I see some (likely circumstantial) evidence that the bottom line they worry about is customer satisfaction and trust, because I really don't seen them doing some overt grabs for a person's money.

Until recently, I could only say that was the case, based on gut feeling and life experiences. But I recently tried, and pulled myself off of, a very horrific Clash clone. Not going to openly say which (because that breaks ToS to bring up other games in a certain way if I recall correctly) but it was clear on day one, that they just wanted your money. What they did in their game was tame compared to what SC does in CoC. To me, it just reeked of being some money grabbing copy cat. You think Supercell is out to get your cash because they are greedy? HA! SC is anything but greedy compared to these guys, and they are ran under a big game publisher too. Once you see some of these other Clash clones, especially the bad ones, you'd see how much of a saint SC is in terms of soliciting money from their players.

So, back to them being good at number crunching. The numbers they cruch are based on hard, honest, work (best I can tell) and that pays back in terms of keeping a loyal playerbase. They purposefully left out 'ads for gems' or other outside offers as well as not putting in a lot of sparkling, and neat, prestigious things that require premium currency to buy. They are also not stingy with gems in their achievements either. Yet, they are able to make the huge amount of money, buy a Superbowl Ad slot, with a big name actor, and throw a big convention, while also balancing game stats, including how much gems are is generated in game, so they can keep doing what they love to do.

If that isn't wise number crunching, then I don't know what is.