作者：Jon Jordan

位于芬兰首都赫尔辛基的Supercell是大热手机游戏《Clash of Clans》和《Hay Day》的开发工作室，而Ilkka Paananen是正是这个游戏行业新贵的CEO兼联合创始人。

Ilkka自2000年起就在游戏业打拼了。在创立Supercell以前，他是Sumea工作室的CEO兼联合创始人，Sumea后来被Digital Chocolate收购——他于2010年曾出任该公司的董事长。

除了在Supercell工作，Ilkka还作为合伙人与其他创业者一起从事创业投资，成立了Lifeline Ventures。Ilkka还积极参与赫尔辛基的创业者社团活动，扮演着其他新创业者的导师的角色。

Ilkka持有赫尔辛基大学授予的荣誉科学博士学位。除了游戏和创业，Ilkka对冰球运动很有兴趣。

supercell-ceo-illka-paananen(from pocketgamer)

Pocket Gamer（以下简称P）：你小时候最喜欢的游戏是什么？

Ilkka Paananen（以下简称I）：《沙丘魔堡2》、《模拟城市》、《猴岛的秘密》、《文明》、《命令与征服》 、《X翼战机》和《NHL’94》。

P：你什么时候开始把制作游戏当作职业志向？

I：大概是几年以前吧，当时我意识到这个行为之所以这么特别，是因为它影响了人们之间的欣赏、尊重和友情等关系，只是竞争太激烈了。那种竞争确实是是这个星球上许多最聪明的人之间的较量。

事实上，游戏业总是汇聚了最优秀的人才！

P：你入行后的第一份工作是做什么？有什么收获？

I：当我还是学生时，我就经人介绍加入一个自称为Sumea的团体，当时他们想成立一家游戏公司。

我想帮助他们，因为我真的对商业方面有浓厚的兴趣——不只是开发方面。他们让我成为CEO。

尽管我其实没有任何经验并且对自己对的事一无所知，他们还是让我当CEO！我们从我们犯下的许多错误中学习，最终把Sumea变成欧洲最成功的手机游戏开发和发行公司之一。

在我们于2004年把公司卖给Digital Chocolate时，Sumea大约有40名员工。我想那是一个不错的结果吧。

P：你取得的第一个重大成功是什么？

I：应该是我还在Sumea时，我们制作出第一款游戏，完全是我们自己出资。我们通过经销商把游戏推广到全世界。

那真是一段血泪史。那款游戏叫作《Racing Fever》，我们很幸福，当时游戏卖得很好，使我们发得出工资并且雇用更多人。

P：你什么时候意识到手机游戏的潜力？

I：我应该说从2002年开始就看到了，因为我从一开始进入游戏行业就是做手机游戏……

但准确地说，应该是我看到第一部iPhone时。

P：你认为手机游戏崛起的最关键事件是什么？

I：屏幕智能手机的诞生和应用商店的出现，这两件事意义最大。

首先，触屏使应用更容易使用了；再者，应用商店不仅使消费者更容易发现应用，而且使降低了开发者推广应用的门槛。

我确实不怀念通过经销商推广应用的旧时代。

P：有什么让你感到最骄傲或最后悔的事吗？

I：与那么多了不起的人——制作好游戏和建立好公司的人一起工作了几年，这是让我最骄傲的事。

后悔不是我的作风。

P：你最近爱玩什么手机游戏？

I：很难说——好游戏太多了。我喜欢的几款益智游戏大家似乎都在玩，如《Candy Crush》和《Jelly Splash》。

我也爱《Puzzle & Dragons》。我只是希望有时间多玩玩它。

P：你认为手机游戏的未来是怎么样的？

I：游戏会更加社交化。对于游戏的社交性，我们只触及表面，我们还可以做得更好。

我很肯定平板/手机上会出现更多游戏机级的AAA游戏，即使它们不是我的最爱。

P：你希望以后能在行业的什么领域有所作为？

I：当我们成立Supercell时，我们的想法是“最优秀的人做最好的游戏。”

简单地说，我们希望让Supercell成为最优秀的开发者的家园，支持这些开发者做出最好的游戏。

我认为，我们具有独特的公司文化和组织模式，这是基于优秀人才之间的信任，我们给他们自由去做他们最擅长的事，摆脱人人都讨厌的多余的流程、费用和管理。

如果在未来20年里，我们可以说我们还保持这种状态，那么我们就真的成功了。

当然，有些人告诉我，我是做白日梦，保持公司自由和无官僚政治只是理想主义，随着我们获得更多成功，我们会越来越难坚守当初的信念……

但是，我们的使命就是要证明，那些人错了。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Hall of Fame: Ilkka Paananen

by Jon Jordan

Starting out in simple monochrome in the days of Snake and WAP, the past decade has seen the mobile games industry kaleidoscope into a glorious, multi-billion dollar sector that’s driving global innovation.

So it’s high time we celebrate some of the people who helped make that journey possible – something PocketGamer.biz will be doing in its regular Mobile Gaming Hall of Fame feature.

You can read our previous articles here.

Ilkka Paananen is the CEO and co-founder of Supercell, the Helsinki-based mobile games developer behind Clash of Clans and Hay Day.

IIkka has been an entrepreneur in the games industry since 2000. Prior to Supercell, he was the CEO and co-founder of Sumea, which was later acquired by Digital Chocolate, where he worked as a president until 2010.

In addition to his role at Supercell, Ilkka helps other entrepreneurs as a partner in Lifeline Ventures, an early stage investor. Ilkka is also an active member of the Helsinki-based startup community where he mentors and coaches other founders.

Ilkka holds a Master of Science (with honors) from Helsinki University of Technology. As well as games and entrepreneurship, Ilkka is passionate about ice hockey.

Pocket Gamer: What were your favourite games as a kid?

Ilkka Paananen: Dune 2, Sim City, Secret of The Monkey Island, Civilization, Command & Conquer, X-Wing and NHL’94.

When did you realise you wanted to make games as a career?

Perhaps a few years in, when I realised that what makes this industry so special is how everyone treats each other with such admiration, respect and friendship, despite the fact that the competition is intense. And that competition is really with many of the smartest people on the planet.

That, and the fact that the games industry has always thrown the best parties!

What was your first role in the industry? How did that turn out?

Well, when I was still a student, I was introduced to this group that called themselves “Sumea,” and they wanted to build a games company.

I wanted to help them out, and since I was really the only one who had even remote interest in the business side of things – and not just the development side – they made me the CEO.

They did that despite the fact that I really had zero experience in anything, and hardly knew what I was doing! But learning from our mistakes – of which there were many – we managed to grow Sumea into one of the top developers and publishers of mobile games in Europe.

We were roughly 40 people in size before we sold the company to Digital Chocolate in 2004. So I guess it turned out okay in the end.

What do you consider your first significant success?

That would be when we managed to build our first game, totally self-funded, at Sumea. We got the game distributed via carriers around the world with the direct distribution deals we had managed to make.

All of that required a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. The game was called Racing Fever and we were very lucky when the game sold very well and finally made it possible for us to start paying salaries to our team – and to hire a few more people.

When did the potential for mobile games become apparent to you?

Since I have been making mobile games almost my entire professional career I guess I should say that I saw all this coming in 2002…

But, in reality, it was the moment I saw the first iPhones.

What do you think is the most significant event in mobile gaming?

The emergence of user-friendly touch-based smartphones and app stores did two amazing things.

Firstly, touchscreens made the apps easy enough to use and, secondly, app stores not only made discovering apps easy for consumers, but also democratised the distribution of apps for developers.

I don’t exactly miss the old days when games were distributed via the carriers.

What are you most proud of? Any regrets?

I’m most proud of having been able to work with so many amazing people throughout these years – people who have built amazing games, and amazing game companies.

And no regrets, not my style.

Which mobile games have you most enjoyed recently?

Hard to say – there are so many great games out there. I really like some of these puzzle games that everyone seems to be playing these days, like Candy Crush and Jelly Splash.

I also love Puzzle & Dragons. I just wish I had time to play it more.

What are your predictions for the future of mobile games?

Games will get a lot more social. We are just scratching the surface of sociality in games, and we can do so much better there.

I am also sure we will see more console-like triple-A type of immersive experiences on tablet/mobile, even if they really aren’t my personal favorite.

In which area of the industry do you hope to make a difference in future?

When we founded Supercell, we had this vision that “the best people will make the best games”.

Simply put, we wanted to make Supercell the best home for the best developers and everyone who would support these developers to build the best possible games.

I believe we have a pretty unique culture and organizational model, which is all based on trust in the best people, giving them freedom to do what they do best, and getting rid of all the unnecessary processes, overhead, and management that everyone hates.

If in 20 years we can say that all of this is still true, then we have accomplished something great.

Of course, several people tell me that this is just a pipe dream, and that our vision of keeping the company free of all kind of bureaucracy is just idealism that will not work as we get more successful…

But we are on a mission to prove them wrong.(source:pocketgamer)