Finnish studio Ministry of Games declared bankruptcy
In Finland, the Ministry of Games, a gaming startup that once raised $1.9 million, went bankrupt. The company managed to create four mobile games in five years.
In 2015, funds such as Initial Capital and Index Ventures invested in the Ministry of Games. Both also invested in the Finnish hit forge Supercell; separately, Index Ventures funded King, Facebook and other large companies.
At that time, Ministry of Games was considered one of the most promising Finnish studios, according to investors. The company did not immediately share its plans for the funds received. Subsequently, she revealed that she was developing not only games, but also her own engine. And she didn’t mention him again.
The Ministry of Games portfolio includes four titles: Spell Brawl, Trade Town, Idle Monster Tycoon and Words & Spells.
- The developer recognized the first two projects as failures last year. Trade Town was canceled in June. Spell Brawl is not mentioned on the official website of the studio.
- Idle Monster Tycoon has been released on mobile platforms. According to Sensor Tower, its total downloads for April 2020 do not exceed 10 thousand.
- The Words & Spells puzzle was preparing for early access back in September. Only the game’s Facebook page has been preserved.
In the Pocket Gamer material, the company boasted of a new approach to development, which allowed creating free-to-play games in four months. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Games was unable to achieve a stable inflow of funds:
- until 2018, its sales were at zero. Back in 2017, the startup suffered losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars;
- in fiscal year 2018, judging by the reports, she began publishing and earning. Its turnover for the period reached $ 1.5 million, profit — $ 730 thousand.
But in the next two years, the studio obviously had a bad profit. The Ministry of Games could attract new investments taking into account the successful seed round for 2015. But, according to the Finnish edition of Talouselama, investors were simply not interested in her projects.
It remains to assume that the startup was finally crippled by the coronavirus pandemic. There is no official version. Founder and CEO Teppo Soininen did not comment on the bankruptcy of his studio.
By the way, another Finnish developer, Rival Games, has recently closed due to COVID-19.
Also on the topic:
- A Finnish startup has raised €1.8 million for a mobile projectMinistry of Games will create a mobile game engine
- The creators of Alien: Blackout closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
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