Supercell acquires minority stake in Redemption Games

Supercell has invested $5 million in Redemption Games, a casual games startup founded by the team who led development of Cookie Jam.

The $5 million investment will buy a minority stake in Redemption, though the size of that stake was not disclosed. A joint statement asserted that the Carlsbad, California-based studio would continue to operate independently, "with full control of its operations."

Supercell's investment is not connected to a publishing deal either. Rather, the money will be used to develop new IP and bring it to market.

"We've been impressed by [Redemption's] craftsmanship and distinctive approach to game development," said Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen. "This is our first investment outside of Europe and we couldn't be more excited to partner up with the Redemption Games team."

Redemption Games was co-founded by Michael Witz and Dan Lin in 2015. Witz and Lin worked on mobile games together for ten years, having previously founded Mob Science - which was acquired by SGN (now known as Jam City) in 2013.

"Motivation for us stems from the craftsmanship of creating a great product," Lin said in a statement. "As I've told everyone who joins our team, the only promise we make is that we are only going to ship a game we are proud to put our name on. This means we're ridiculously stubborn and won't give up on even the smallest feature until we nail it."

Supercell is an increasingly active investor in other studios, having previously bought stakes in Shipyard Games, Trailmix and Space Ape Games.