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老生常谈的解读:Supercell,游戏界最没权势的CEO

发布时间:2018-06-06 10:22:23 Tags:,

老生常谈的解读:Supercell,游戏界最没权势的CEO

(Ilkka Paananen将权力下放给开发者以及Supercell创造全球性手游的雄心)

原作者:Matthew Handrahan 译者:Willow Wu

在GDC大会上,人们见到了游戏界巨头Supercell的领导者Ilkka Paananen。当他在大众面前发表演说时,他称自己为“游戏行业最没权势的CEO”。

这个说法实在是太令人摸不着头脑了,这里是GDC最大的展厅,台下座无虚席,大家就是冲着Ilkka Paananen来的。当他上台时,底下那些渴望着能与巨人肩并肩的开发者们已经做好了洗耳恭听的准备。Paananen在演讲中反复强调的是CEO并不是大众眼中的发号施令者。

他解释说,在Supercell,高管下放权力是公司文化的基础。只要能够充分考虑产品的接受度以及遵循用户第一的原则,独立团队在大部分情况下都可以进行自主决策。开发团队甚至不需要获得Paananen的决策批准,他认为这会阻碍产品的顺利迭代以及方案执行。

“对我们来说这是一种非常有效的工作方式,大家很喜欢在这种环境下工作,但是我也明白这并不适合所有公司。我认为每个公司都应该有一套自己的做事方针。你不能直接把另一个公司的文化照搬过来用。”

supercell-ceo-illka-paananen(from pocketgamer)

supercell-ceo-illka-paananen(from pocketgamer)

这就是为什么很多人想听Ilkka Paananen的演讲:进一步了解Supercell是如何铸造成功的,然后按着这位领导人的理念去做自己的项目。在Paananen看来,作为Supercell的负责人,他做出的最重要决定就是赋予人们自主决策的权力,还有就是确保他们只雇佣最优秀的人才。

“归根结底,这是唯一一件你能控制的事情,”他说,“游戏行业真的很复杂,而且你很难预测以后是怎样的。所以我能做的就是保证团队的人员质量、尽量优化他们的工作环境,从而将项目成功的几率最大化。

“有时候他们取得了什么突破性的进展,而我是最后一个知道的,在Supercell这就是最能让我开心的。其实最近经常会发生这样的事。在这种时候,我就能感觉到我们的团队运作方式是最棒的。”

确实,Supercell的组织管理方式非常适合他们,以至于他们都不需要设立专门的人力资源部门。当员工之间真的出现分歧了(Paananen说这很少见),他们应该会通过友好的方式进行协商,在团队内部解决问题(团队一般不会超过7人)。只有在极其罕见的情况下才需要领导者介入调解。

“现在这边的五个人,”Paananen指了一下坐在桌子周围的人,“我们可以成为一个游戏团队。这就是一个非常典型的Supercell游戏团队,不需要任何人的额外帮助,我们可以直接坐下来,开始工作。

“这就是主人翁意识和责任感。这种相对独立的工作方式是一个挺值得探讨的话题,但其中涉及到的责任问题就比较复杂了。”

Supercell的盈利规模、玩家数量看起来似乎和公司本身不太匹配——他们的员工人数不到250人。相比King,也就是少数能与Supercell抗衡的手游公司之一,他们的公司规模真的不在一个数量级上,甚至连那些不怎么成功的游戏公司也比Supercell大很多。根据Paananen所说的,小规模团队是维持公司文化的关键所在,正是在这种环境中,他们才能创造出《部落冲突》《皇室战争》这样的大热门游戏,但事情不是想象中的那么简单。公司收获了巨大成功后,大部分人都会选择进一步扩大公司规模。其实比起增加员工,保持团队人数不变才是更难的。

“扩大公司规模肯定会让事情变得更麻烦,但是成功规模也会随之扩大,这就是诱惑所在。它就像是有重力的东西一直想把你拉过去,你必须每天和它作斗争。”

“事情进展顺利的时候你当然不会觉得人多有什么不好,但事情进展不顺利的时候你要怎么办?你对员工的信赖程度有多高?还能靠他们自己内部消化吗?还是你要插手?这就是考验公司文化的时刻了。其实这种抉择困境已经遇到过很多次了,我们非常清楚,如果你只把目光局限在短期,做出你自认为对的选择,有时候你就是在用权力推翻整个团队的决定。以后你就会发现这个代价非常大,公司文化会变得支离破碎。

“另一种选择就是让团队随心所欲地做他们想做的事,他们可能是对的也可能是错的。但即使他们犯了错,在长期看来也是有益的,因为这有助于维持我们的公司文化。你可以强迫自己改变思维模式,不要想着下一年,应该想想下一个十年。这样你做选择时就不那么难了。”

在大多数情况下,Supercell团队可以同时针对多个游戏概念进行自主决策。具体数量是会浮动的,Paananen估计现阶段有五个,他很高兴地承认说他没办法确定,但更重要的是他不需要知道。在Supercell,一直不变的就是游戏质量标准,在测试发行前必须保证游戏达标。另外,全球正式发行还有一套更高的标准。

显然,Paananen并不喜欢用“失败”这个词语。他觉得Supercell团队就像是一群科学家测试理论是否成立,验证结果可能是不成立,但并不代表着这个结果毫无价值,它仍然能给团队带来很多有用的信息,游戏开发者们也是如此。最终这就会导致产品的高淘汰率,对于开发者们来说可能会难以接受,毕竟在游戏行业中,发行产品是一件值得骄傲、提高职业声望的事情。

Paananen承认说:“我们就这个问题讨论了很多,没人喜欢砍掉自己的产品,但大家都能接受,因为这是他们做的决定而不是我。开发阶段我们都没有可以参考的硬数据,淘不淘汰完全取决于他们。为了验证假说你付出了很多心血,但结论是不成立。我知道这可能会让人很难过,但是这不是一切的终点。

“怎样才能让决策变得容易一点?你可以考虑下其他的选项,比如‘这个游戏没有达标,但是我们就先发行看看吧’,这样做是正确的吗?

“在Supercell,你不能把游戏发行了,然后就任其自生自灭了。人们来玩你的游戏,他们投入了时间,还有很多人也投入了金钱。我,还有大家都觉得我们应该为这些玩家负起责任,我们应该让这个游戏变得更好,每个月都做一些优化提升。这是一个至少长达五年、十年的责任。

“所以我要问的问题是:这样一个不达标的游戏,你愿意在接下来的五年、十年为它付出这些努力吗?思考一下这些问题,你会感觉突然之间事情没那么纠结了。”

Supercell的第三、四款游戏《海岛奇兵》《皇室战争》相隔了2年,但是在这期间,开发新创意的脚步一刻都没有停下。Paananen承认说他们的标准非常高,但是还不及的当下手游市场的要求。

“现在,创新变得比以往更加重要。跟在别人的后面,想做出某游戏的更好版本已经没什么意义了。竞争太激烈了,尝试、测试不同的游戏机制以及不同的做事方式对整个游戏市场的发展来说是更加有利的。

“从我们的文化上看,这要很大程度上要取决于开发团队。未来能在行业中造成轰动的应该是某些意想不到的新式游戏。要实现这点你就必须拥有一群创意超群的人才,去尝试一些疯狂的东西。或许有一天,你就成功了。”

还有一项趋势就是手游会在社交机制方面更加深入,就移动平台的功能来说,现阶段的大部分游戏还停留在社交玩法的浅层。这也许就是Paananen眼中的最大机遇,手游开发者们可以利用社交机制收获和Supercell一样的成绩,甚至是超越他们。

“就目前来说,市面上还没有任何一款真正意义上的全球性手游,意思就是这款游戏不仅要在美国、英国排第一,在中国、韩国和日本也要夺魁,这也是我们的梦想之一。我们能做出那样的游戏吗?

“有意思的地方就在于这种可能性。我们的游戏之前在韩国榜单登顶,这是前所未有的。别人都想不到,一款来自遥远的芬兰的游戏,竟然能在韩国这个竞争无比激烈的游戏市场中脱颖而出!我们在日本和中国也进入了榜单前十,也是挺让人激动的。

“至于手游的进一步全球化,不同国家的玩家的确有不同的偏好,但是我认为这些差异在逐渐变小。手游全球化的脚步越来越快了。”

本文由游戏邦编译,转载请注明来源,或咨询微信zhengjintiao
Ilkka Paananen on the value of leaving power in the hands of developers, and Supercell’s ambition to create a “truly global” mobile hit

When the GDC audience looks at Ilkka Paananen, they see the leader of one of the industry’s most successful companies. When Paananen addresses the crowd, however, he announces himself as, “the industry’s least powerful CEO.”

It is a striking idea, one at odds with the reason why every seat in GDC’s largest room is filled. When the CEO of Supercell takes to the stage, a legion of developers aspiring to emulate its unrivalled track record of success is ready to listen. The abiding message of Paananen’s talk, however, cuts against the perception of a CEO as the commanding figure in a company.

At Supercell, he explained, devolving power away from executives is at the very foundation of the company’s culture. Individual teams are given near total power to make key decisions, based on the belief that proximity to the product and the audience is the most important factor in making the best choices. As CEO, Paananen doesn’t even ask for approval of those choices, regarding it as just another obstacle in the way of effective iteration and execution.

“It has certainly worked for us,” he says when we meet after his talk. “We love to work in that kind of environment, but I can totally understand it might not be right for everybody. I think every company should have its own unique way of doing things. You can’t just copy a culture from another company.”

I point out that many people in the audience will have listened to his talk for exactly that reason: to gain insight into how Supercell built its success, and to emulate the ideas of its leader. For Paananen, though, the most important decision he made as the head of Supercell was to empower people to make decisions of their own, and to be sure to hire only the very best people.

“Ultimately, that’s almost the only thing that you can control,” he says. “It’s such a competitive industry, and it’s so hard to predict what’s going to happen. You maximise your chances of success by having the best teams possible, and allowing those teams to operate in the best possible environment.

“The best days for me at Supercell are the days where something great has happened and I’m the last one to know about it. That actually happens quite often these days. Those are the moments when I feel that the organisation is working the best.”

Indeed, the way Supercell is organised works well enough for the company to have no official human resources department. When problems do arise between members of staff – far from a common occurrence, Paananen assures me – they are expected to be resolved amicably within each team, which rarely have more than seven members unless their project is a live game. Only on the rarest occasions does a team leader even need to mediate.

“All of us five around here,” Paananen says, gesturing to the group of people sat around our table. “We could be a game team. This would be a typical Supercell game team. You don’t need anyone to facilitate stuff. We can just sit here and work on it.

“It’s the sense of ownership, and the sense of responsibility. The [creative] independence is the nice thing to talk about – the fun part – but what’s a bit harder about it is this responsibility that you have.”

The scale of Supercell’s profits and the reach of its games belies the actual size of the company, which still has a headcount below 250 people. This is an order of magnitude smaller than King, one of the few mobile companies that can rival its commercial performance, and a great deal smaller than a dozen companies that don’t really come close. According to Paananen, staying small has been absolutely vital to sustaining the culture that produced hit games like Clash of Clans and Clash Royale, but it hasn’t been easy. The most common response to huge success is to grow, he says, and it is far easier to give in to that than to resist.

“[Growing] absolutely does make it harder, and not only the larger you get but the more successful you become. There’s the temptation to grow and do more. This traditional way of doing things, it tries to creep in. It almost has a gravity that pulls you towards it, and you have to fight back every single day.”

“And it’s one thing to talk about this stuff when things are going well, but when things aren’t going well? That’s the true test of a culture. How much do you really trust your people? There have been a number of times at this kind of crossroads. We had a very strong sense that, if you just think about the short term, the right decision would be to overrule the team. But it would come with a huge price.

“The other path is to let the team do what they want, and they could be right or could be wrong. But even if they’re wrong it’s best for the long-term, because that enables us to sustain our culture. You can force yourself into that kind of mindset, where you don’t just think about next year; you think about the next ten years. It makes it much easier to make that kind of choice.”

For the most part, the freedom to make decisions relates to the many game concepts that Supercell’s teams are working on at any one time. The exact number fluctuates – Paananen estimates five at the moment, but he happily concedes that he doesn’t know for sure and, more to the point, he doesn’t need to know. What doesn’t change, though, is the standard a game has to reach before being soft-launched, and the even higher standard necessary for a full, global release.

Paananen is clearly uncomfortable with terms like ‘failure’. He compares Supercell’s teams to scientists testing a hypothesis; it may prove to be false, but that result can be as informative and valuable as any other, and the same is true of the company’s approach to development. Ultimately, this leads to a high kill-rate, which can be difficult for developers to accept in an industry where shipping products is a matter of pride and professional standing.

“We’ve talked about this a lot,” he admits. “Nobody likes killing stuff, of course, but the reason people think it’s okay is, one, the decision is made by them and not me. And two, if you kill a game because the metrics just aren’t there, it’s nobody’s fault. You made a hypothesis and the result was false. It’s not the end of the world, even if it can be painful because you worked so hard.

“But what makes the decision just a bit easier is if you think about the other option: ‘This game really didn’t reach the metrics but let’s release it anyway’. Would that be the right call?

“When you release a game in our business, it’s not a fire and forget model. If you get real people playing your game, they invest their time, and many of them invest their money. Then I feel and we feel that we are responsible for those players, and we are responsible for updating that game and making it better every single month. Whenever we release something, it’s a huge commitment for the next five or ten years at least.

“So the question I ask is: Here’s a game that didn’t reach your goals – would you, yourself, commit to this for the next five years? All of a sudden you get this better perspective on things.”

The gap between Boom Beach and Clash Royale – Supercell’s third and fourth games respectively – was two years, and work on new ideas never stopped for a single day of that period. The standard is very high, Paananen admits, but it is no higher than the current mobile market demands.

“It’s even more important today to build something that doesn’t exist yet,” he says. “I think the days of fast following somebody, and trying to be a better version of ‘Game X’, that doesn’t make sense. The competition is too tough, and it is just better for the whole market to try and test different mechanics and different ways of doing things.

“Because of our culture, it really is up to the team. It really goes back to that. And if you think about the biggest hits in the games industry, they tend to be unexpected things. The way to get there is to have really creative people trying out crazy things. And one of these days, they might work.”

One of the next frontiers for mobile gaming will be a deeper exploration of social gameplay, an area where developers have “still just scratched the surface” relative to the capabilities of mobile as a platform. This could be the key to what Paananen sees as perhaps the biggest opportunity for a mobile developer to emulate – and even surpass – what Supercell has achieved.

“Nobody has done a truly global mobile game yet, meaning that this game becomes number one in the US and the UK, but also in China and Korea and Japan,” he says. “That’s one of our really big dreams. That drives us. Could we really create one of the games to get there?

“And the interesting thing is that it can be done. We’ve been the number one game in Korea, which was completely unheard of. How can a game from a distant country like Finland be number one in a very passionate and competitive gaming market like Korea? And we’ve been top ten in Japan and also in China. But that’s exciting. How do you think even more global?

“The markets do have different tastes, but I think those tastes are getting closer together. It’s becoming more and more global.”(source: gamesindustry.biz )


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