Supercell hires Drussila Hollanda as first-ever head of new games

• Drussila Hollanda is Supercell’s head of new games.
• She brings over 20 years of games industry experience from Rovio, Wooga, Chocolate, her own company Papukaya, and Supercell.

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Supercell has hired Drussila Hollanda as its first-ever head of new games, a role that has been a long time coming but “very hard” to fill.

The position marks Hollanda’s return to Supercell after formerly working as the second game lead on Hay Day.

She has already helped shape several game projects during her initial run at the company, and will now be responsible for supporting games teams across three continents in making “the best games”.

Hollanda is set to report directly to Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen as a part of the leadership team.

Overseeing independent teams

Supercell assured that Hollanda’s appointment to a brand-new role does not reflect a change in strategy or a different approach to making games. Rather, the company considers this a “doubling down” on the independence of its games teams.

Hollanda’s role will be to put together the best teams and cultivate cultures for developing new games.

“We need someone fully focused on supporting the new game teams,” Supercell stated.

As well as her prior role at Supercell, Hollanda has worked at Rovio, Wooga, Digital Chocolate, and founded her own company Papukaya. She has over 20 years of games industry experience.

“I have to say, this feels like a homecoming. I’ve been lucky enough to lead and be part of both new and live game teams throughout my career, but my true passion has always been on the new game side,” she said.

“I have firsthand experience in taking big risks and failing – a lot! So I think I can nurture the risk-taking culture here at Supercell. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work alongside, and for the good of, the amazing talent Supercell’s new game teams have.”

Paananen commented on the hire: “This role has been a long time coming but it was a very hard one to fill, because this is not your typical ‘head of new games’ role which directs the type of games the studio builds. So we needed someone exceptional and even more importantly, someone who truly understands and values Supercell’s culture of independent teams.

“We want to constantly make Supercell a better place to build the best games, keep it a ‘startup’ despite our growing size. Drussila is the right person to bring all this together. Her experience and expertise in boosts and bumps of game-making, and deep understanding of Supercell’s culture will set her up for success.”

Supercell’s latest new game Mo.co rolled out globally this July, though Clash Royale is currently the standout performer.