6月21日，一則簡短的公告震動了全球游戲界，騰訊在該公告中正式宣布將以86億美元收購芬蘭著名游戲開發商Supercell，史無前例的收購價格、近年來頻繁的收購布局，騰訊進一步擴大了在全球游戲市場的領先地位。不過有趣的是，對比網友對于此次收購的議論紛紛、褒貶不一，當事公司Supercell倒顯得十分輕松。
在騰訊公告發布后不到半小時，Supercell公司CEO Ilkka Paananen在其官網發布了一份輕松俏皮的致玩家信，解釋了收購的經過，以及選擇騰訊合作的原因。他在信中很高興地表示，“Supercell接下來仍將繼續獨立營運”， 期待“迎接Supercell的新篇章”。
騰訊總裁劉熾平和SupercellCEO Ilkka Paananen
原文標題：
THE NEXT CHAPTER: OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH TENCENT
Hey Everyone,
I wanted to write a quick post to announce the world's worst kept secret :) Yes...Tencent, the world's biggest games company, has taken a lead to purchase SoftBank's investment in Supercell and will be our new strategic partner.
這里，我想對于這個世界上“最不是秘密的秘密”寫一個簡單的回應。
是的……全球最大的游戲公司騰訊主導收購了軟銀在Supercell的所有投資并且成為了我們新的戰略伙伴。
There have been a lot of rumors in the media about this in the past month, so I wanted to use this opportunity to tell you what happened, why and what makes me so excited about it.
全球媒體在過去一個月已經對此事流言紛紛，所以我今天想借此機會和大家說明一下到底發生了什么，為什么會發生這件事，以及是什么讓我對這次的合作充滿興奮。
Some background first. A while back, Masa (the founder of SoftBank, and our Chairman) told me that if we were able to find a new partner, he would like to sell SoftBank's shares in Supercell to finance what he called SoftBank's 2.0 transformation strategy.
先和大家交代一下背景吧。前一陣子，孫正義(軟銀創始人、我們之前的公司主席)和我說，如果我們能找到新的合作伙伴，他愿意出售軟銀手上Supecell的股份來推行他稱作“軟銀2.0”轉型戰略。
This meant we at Supercell needed to think hard and do some soul-searching. What is it really that we want to accomplish with Supercell? What is it that we value in a partner? It may sound funny, but when we finally got our thoughts together, the choice was actually surprisingly easy. Let me explain why.
這意味著我們需要沉下心來認真考慮，并拷問我們自己的內心：我們Supercell到底想要達成怎樣的愿景?我們想要什么樣的合作伙伴?這聽起來可能有點不真實，但是當我們最終收集所有人的意見的時候，我們發現原來要作這個選擇，其實是如此的簡單。下面我來解釋一下其中的原因：
For us, today is all about chasing a future for Supercell that we have always dreamed of. We founded this company to make great games that people all over the world would play for decades. We have been very lucky as over the past six years we've released four top games that are now played by over 100 million people every single day (you may have seen our little celebration here). But more than this, we dream of our current and future games becoming a part of the rich history of games, living onto the very long term. And if you take this very long-term view, you quickly realize that we are still at the beginning of what will hopefully be a very long journey.
As we started to spend more time getting to know potential strategic partners, it became apparent to us that a partnership with Tencent would secure everything that has made Supercell a success, while also enabling us to take a few pretty big leaps on this journey I mentioned above. Here's why:
對我們來說，今天是為了追尋 supercell的未來，那個我們一直夢寐以求的未來。我們創立了這家公司就是為了給全世界的創造可以玩幾代人的游戲。我們非常幸運，在過去六年中我們已經制作了四款頂級游戲，每天有超過一億玩家在玩它們(你能感受到我們這里的小小自豪)。我們夢想，夢想著我們現在和未來所制作的游戲，可以成為游戲浩瀚歷史的一部分，并長盛于此。而如果把眼光放得足夠長遠的話，您可以很快發現我們僅僅是在萬里長征第一步。
所以我們一直在尋在潛在的戰略合作伙伴，而顯而易見與騰訊的合作可以帶給Supercell成功所需要的一切，而且可以讓我們在這個發展過程中取得重要的跳躍式發展，以下是我們選擇騰訊的4個主要原因：
First, we have agreed with Tencent that Supercell will continue to be operationally independent, exactly as it was under SoftBank's ownership. They understand that our unique culture of small and independent teams (or "cells" as we call them) is what makes Supercell. We want Supercell to continue to be the world's best place for Creative people to create games. Also, our headquarters will stay in Helsinki and we will pay our taxes in Finland. All of this is very important for us.
首先，我們與騰訊達成共識，Supercell接下來仍將繼續獨立營運，這和在軟銀旗下的時候別無二致。騰訊非常理解Supercell之所以為Supercell是因為我們獨特的小而美的獨立團隊(我們內部稱之為“細胞”)文化。我們雙方都希望Supercell可以繼續為世界上最有創意的游戲人提供最好的工作環境。而且，我們的總部仍然繼續留在赫爾辛基，并且仍在芬蘭納稅，而這些對我們來說都是非常重要的。
Second, China is home to more gamers than any other country. Tencent's platforms reach around a billion users (yes, a billion!). And, they have around 300 million unique users playing games on their platforms. What this means for us is that together with Tencent, we can bring our games to so many more players. Also, their social platforms offer many new possibilities for our games, particularly for social play. All of this is very exciting!
第二，中國的游戲玩家數是全球最多的。騰訊的平臺覆蓋用戶量超過10億人(是的，是10億!)。而且在他們的平臺上有超過3億獨立用戶在玩游戲。而這就意味著，與騰訊攜手，我們可以將游戲帶給更多的玩家。而且他們的社交平臺給我們的游戲提供了更大的機會，特別是社交玩法方面，所有這一切都是非常令人激動的。
Third, Tencent's people seem to love games as much as we do. In fact, in one of my meetings with Martin (their President), he had just dropped out from Clash Royale global top-100 players, and it was almost impossible to get his focus back to the topics we had to discuss… talk about being passionate about games! J On a more serious note, Tencent has built a hugely successful partnership with Riot Games, a team we greatly admire and that has inspired us over the years in so many ways. Now we'll have an excuse to call Riot and talk shop more often!
第三，騰訊人和我們一樣熱愛游戲。實際上，在我和Martin(騰訊總裁劉熾平)會面期間，他在《皇室戰爭》當中的排名因此掉出了全球前100名，他期間還因此在開會時走神，忘了我們討論的話題…但討論游戲的時候非常有熱情。再者，認真的說，騰訊與拳頭公司(Riot Games)的合作已經獲得巨大的成功，而這家我們一直敬仰的公司已然在各方各面給我們帶來很多啟發。現在，我們終于有借口經常和拳頭公司聯系并好好聊聊游戲這個老本行了。
And fourth, this deal enables us to keep Supercell privately held. That is a better match with our small size and unique culture than being a public company where our concern would be the pressure from financial markets to think short term. However, while enabling us to stay private, the partnership with Tencent provides us with some of the benefits of being public: as part of this transaction, our employees will be able to sell their shares in Supercell over time (everyone at Supercell is an owner). The total equity value of $10.2 billion dollars also recognizes the value of the phenomenal company that our people have built.
第四，這次交易可以保證我們Supercell繼續維持私營身份，對我們的小團隊和獨特的文化來說，目前的獨立狀態比上市更好，我們不用為了短期利益而受到來自財務方面的壓力。然而，除了保證我們私營之外，與騰訊的合作還可以給我們帶來所有上市公司擁有的優勢，作為本次交易的一部分，我們Supercell的員工可以在未來按照意愿賣掉手中的Supercell股份(所有人都有股份)。這次102億美元的估值，也是對我們Supercell人打造的現象級公司的認可。
Finally, I would like to thank a few people (because I am Finnish I will keep this short :)
First of all, a huge thank you to all the players whose passion for our games both inspires and humbles us. It is because of you we come to work excited every day! We feel so grateful to all of you!
最后，我想感謝一些人(作為芬蘭人， 我就長話短說了)
首先，最需要感謝的是所有熱愛我們游戲以及認可我們的玩家們，是你們讓Supercell有了今天激動人心的時刻，我們對于所有人都滿懷感激。
Also, I want to personally thank Masa, the founder of SoftBank, for his support during the time I had the honor of working with him. He truly is an incredible entrepreneur, and I learned enormously from him during our time together. Luckily, as Masa said to me, our business partnership may end due to changing strategies, but our friendship will stay forever.
另外，我從個人角度還希望感謝孫正義，也就是軟銀創始人，感謝過去有幸與他合作的期間他帶來的支持。他真的是一個非常優秀的企業家，我這段時間從他那里也學到了很多。讓我們感到幸運的是，如孫正義對我說的那樣，“由于策略的轉變，我們的業務合作可能會終結，但我們兩人之間的友誼永存。
And, of course, thank you to my fellow Supercellians, all 190 of them. It really is incredible to work alongside people who work so hard to provide our players with the best possible experience, every single day. I feel so proud and lucky for the opportunity to be part of this incredible team.
當然，我也要感謝190位超級細胞們!能夠和如此努力為玩家提供最佳游戲體驗的人一起工作是非常奇妙的經歷，真心是每一天都是非常美好的。能夠有機會成為這個優秀團隊的一員，我覺得自豪和幸運。
Perhaps this post was not so short after all :) Anyway, here's to the next chapter! I have worked in games for 16 years now and I have never been more excited.
Kiitos!
Ilkka
這個說好的簡短回應看起來已經不算短了哈哈。不過不管怎樣，現在讓我們一起迎接Supercell的新篇章吧!!在游戲這一行已經干了16年了，我從來沒有像現在這么激動過!
謝謝大家!!
（新聞稿 2016-06-23）