Clash Heroes took the mobile gaming world by storm when it was first announced. As an avid Clash of Clans player for over eight years, I eagerly awaited the chance to lead my favorite troops into tactical hero-based combat. But months after completing its limited beta test, this hotly anticipated title remains stuck in limbo. Why has Supercell still not released their next big game? As a gaming industry analyst and longtime Supercell fan, I dig into the possible reasons behind Clash Heroes’ indefinite delay.
The Rise and Stall of Clash Heroes
When unveiled at the height of the Clash of Clans craze in 2021, Clash Heroes represented the perfect expansion to the breakout hit franchise. It would combine the strategic rush of battling enemy bases with the richness of an RPG, letting players collect and upgrade signature characters like the Barbarian King and Archer Queen.
Fan excitement was palpable. The Clash community speculated endlessly over screenshots and gameplay clips. Pre-registration numbers topped six figures within the first day. I personally couldn’t wait to finally command my army of heroes on the go.
The closed beta kicked off shortly after to positive reception. Between the vibrant artwork and the tactical depth of its hero-based battles, Clash Heroes delivered on its epic premise.
So where exactly did things go wrong? How could this surefire hit disappear so abruptly after such an impressive showing in its testing phase? To get to the bottom of Clash Heroes’ delays, we’ll analyze recent Supercell history and weigh several theories behind its sudden radio silence.
Typical Development Cycles vs Clash Heroes’ Timeline
Looking at the numbers, Clash Heroes’ extended development time should come as no surprise. Supercell actually has a reputation for taking longer than average to release new games compared to other mobile studios.
Hay Day, Boom Beach, Clash of Clans and Clash Royale each took well over a year to launch out of closed beta. More recently, Rush Wars was publicly playtested for nearly 8 months prior to release in 2019.
However, by comparison, Clash Heroes has now spent more than 14 months in apparent development limbo since its test period ended. Even by Supercell’s leisurely standards, this signify trouble behind the scenes.
What could be causing such an abnormally long delay? To answer that, let‘s analyze a few likely scenarios.
Technical Limitations of the Beta Build
Having actually played early iterations of games like Clash Royale and Rush Wars through beta, I can attest to their tendency to be buggy, unstable and lacking in critical features like friends lists or progression systems. Core mechanics may test well, but require extensive refinement around areas like balancing and matchmaking algorithms before going live.
As an ambitious new IP attempting to fuse RPG progression with competitive multiplayer battles, Clash Heroes likely depends heavily on cloud-based saving features along with complex combat calculations. It is reasonable to expect the back end infrastructure supporting these systems may not have been fully implemented or rigorously tested during the short public beta.
If crucial components like cross-device account syncing, leaderboards, or hero match balancing were not functioning smoothly by beta’s end, this could necessitate extensive reworking of features prior to launch. Such issues tend to balloon development timelines considerably.
While purely conjecture as an outside observer, from personal experience testing other Supercell titles, I suspect technical debt accrued during the rushed beta phase plays a key role in Clash Heroes’ silence.
Strategic Shifts in Supercell’s Roadmap
Still, even allowing for buffers to polish flawed builds, 14 months stands as an excessively long turnaround period after successful public reception. This duration indicates more human or business-level factors may also be impacting the game’s status.
One such factor could be a de-prioritization of Clash Heroes relative to other active projects. 2022 marks the 10 year anniversaries of Supercell’s dual cash cows, Hay Day and Clash of Clans – their two highest grossing mobile titles ever with over $2.5 billion earned collectively.
Given the outsized importance of these milestone birthdays for Supercell’s most profitable franchises, resources may well have been redistributed from Clash Heroes to focus squarely on anniversary content updates instead.
Let’s look closer at each flagship title’s anniversary plans for evidence of strategic pivots…
Hay Day’s Big Birthday Bash
As a long-term Hay Day player myself, I’ve been privy to Supercell’s sweeping proposals for celebrating the game’s first decade.
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At least nine major content updates are on the roadmap spanning new machine types, farm buildings, decoration options, and expanded land patches.
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Special one-off anniversary events are also slated, including bonus currency earnings, exclusive vendor deals, and even decorative birthday cakes for our farms.
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This exceeds the scope of all previous Hay Day birthday events by at least 3x.
Clearly, no expense has been spared for Hay Day’s big 1-0.
Clash of Clans Comes of Age
Likewise, the team behind Clash of Clans has outlined similarly ambitious anniversary initiatives for their blockbuster franchise.
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Full seasonal theme upgrades are planned for every town hall level, spanning holiday designs, fireworks, birthday trains, and new troop skins.
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Special “10 Year Anniversary” in-game events will offer limited-time magic item rewards, gem boosts for upgrading buildings, and even mysterious new single player levels.
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The Clash team has hinted these birthday rewards represent their most valuable giveaways ever.
With two of mobile’s most profitable games ever turning 10 in 2022, Supercell is clearly going all-out. The volume of anniversary content in development could certainly explain personnel and resource shifts causing Clash Heroes delays.
Investing in New Directions
Beyond prioritizing updates for existing portfolio titles, Supercell also appears intent on expanding into new markets entirely. Their latest job listings provide intriguing hints into work underway on unannounced projects.
In particular, Supercell currently has roles open specifically referring to an upcoming cross-platform fantasy RPG. Guided by veteran Japanese RPG creators, this mysterious game is confirmed to take place in a brand new universe distinct from Clash of Clans or other current universes.
While still early in development, the novelty of Supercell’s first fantasy RPG marks a bold change of pace for the publisher. Given Clash Heroes’ apparent similarities as a hero-focused RPG hybrid title, could the two games perhaps be in competition for resources?
There are surely challenges associated with balancing simultaneous development tracks across vastly different genres. Especially for smaller teams unused to major multi-tasking, cross-pollinating talent between completely different games can stretch focus thin. Learning curves adapting console gaming design principles into mobile may have also contributed to fantasy RPG project delays impacting Clash Heroes tangentially.
Regardless of direct correlations though, the entry into new genres reads as Supercell hedging their reliance on just a handful of core titles after 10 lucrative years.
Acquiring New Talent Worldwide
Besides building new mobile RPGs internally, Supercell has been on a buying spree lately – acquiring outside studios to inject fresh ideas into their ecosystem.
Over the past two years, they have purchased multiple game developers across Europe and Australia. Most recently, they bought Australian indie team Snowprint Studios, creators behind the hit massively multiplayer game Fishdom. Snowprint joins a half dozen other new additions to the Supercell family across Finland, France, Germany and beyond.
Expanding so rapidly into unfamiliar genres via purchases can complicate company roadmaps however. Integrating overseas cultures while streamlining global processes tends to slow output velocity. Perhaps resultant growing pains explain how Clash Heroes missed its launch window amidst this acquisition spree.
Then again, bringing on so many creative new minds could pay dividends for resuscitating a stagnated title like Clash Heroes as well. For evidence that outside perspectives can reinvigorate languishing projects, we need look no further than Supercell’s recent internal game jam.
The “Take It” Program’s Outside Influences
In late 2021 Supercell ran an innovative month-long game jam titled “Take It” aimed at fostering indie viewpoints. The rules? Six novice developers outside the company would have 5 weeks to build any game from scratch before presenting to Supercell’s leadership.
The resulting game concept, Rose Pump, blew away reviewers with its unique hand-animated aesthetic and adaptive mechanics. By empowering outsiders, Supercell produced a surprisingly imaginative prototype.
Now imagine if a similar injection of undiscovered talent was applied to overhauling Clash Heroes’ unfinished vision. Who better to get a struggling project un-stuck than beginners unconstrained by past processes or pipeline limitations?
Clash Heroes evidently already nailed its core gameplay formula given stellar beta reception. Perhaps some extra creativity from fresh non-Supercell eyes could give the game renewed purpose. I firmly believe opening doors to new voices from Take It-style initiatives or acquired studios may hold the key to reviving this forgotten hero.
The Road Ahead
For a title like Clash Heroes with so much early promise to remain indefinitely sidelined seems almost criminal. Luckily, signs point to a happy ending eventually.
Despite its radio silence, job postings hinting at hero balancing changes confirm Supercell has not given up entirely on Clash Heroes yet. And with countless gems now populating their creative ranks from recent studio purchases, all it takes is the right diamond in the rough to crack this puzzle.
Until that day comes however, Supercell Marches onward towards broader horizons beyond waiting for their misplaced champion’s return. After $10 billion earned on the strength of just five games over the past decade, who can blame them for continuing to experiment? Surely with enough spins of the wheel, another winner will emerge.
For the sake of this lifelong Clash Fan however, I hope whichever brilliant mind discovers the magic formula for bringing Clash Heroes home to players gets rewarded like the champion they deserve to become. Until the day I finally lead my Barbarian Horde into battle, I’ll be right here providing insider commentary and advocating for forgotten heroes of mobile gaming like Clash Heroes.