Japanese carrier SoftBank and gaming company GungHo Online Entertainment are investing US$1.5 billion for a 51 percent stake in Finnish game developer Softcell, highlighting how hot this sector has become.


This influx of cash will help Supercell become a global game company, CEO Ilkka Paananen said in a blog post Tuesday.


The combination of tablets, mobile and the free-to-play business model has created a new market for games that will be accessible to billions of people -- more than ever before in the history of games, according to Paananen.


Supercell has been a success since it first started developing games for tablets in 2011, with the development of "Clash of Titans" and "Hay Day," which are both among the top grossing iOS games.


SoftBank will invest 80 percent of the $1.5 billion and GungHo, which SoftBank owns a controlling stake in, will pay the rest. But even with this change of ownership, Supercell will still very much remain a Finnish company.


Paananen wrote: "I think more and more people in this country are realizing that there is life after Nokia!"








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