Here’s what would make Clash of Clans die:
Clash of Clans will likely last for another 5 to 10 years with no major updates or changes from the developers.
It could die faster if a new game became popular with the Clash of Clans fanbase or if the developers ran into serious financial trouble.
It could last much longer with continued developer support.
So if you want to learn all about the things that could bring Clash of Clans down, then this article is for you.
Let’s get right into it!
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What Is Clash of Clans?
If you’re a huge fan of Clash of Clans and worried about its longevity, skip ahead.
I have mostly good news for you.
If you’re not too familiar, then let’s take a moment to talk about Clash of Clans.
This is a free-to-play mobile game that is available on both iOS and Android.
It is a strategy game in which players are the chief of their own village.
They try to build up their own resources in the village in order to take over other territories in the virtual world.
The game was developed by Supercell, a Finnish game developer that is now majority-owned by Tencent, a Chinese superpower that owns stakes in large numbers of game developers.
While Clash of Clans is free to play, there are in-game purchases that allow players to spend real money to enhance their gaming experience.
How Old Is Clash of Clans?
One indicator as to how long Clash of Clans might last is to look at how long it has already lasted.
The game originally launched for iOS in August of 2012.
A year later, the Android version was released.
That means that Clash of Clans is already more than a decade old, and there are still tons of people playing the game.
According to Statista, almost 2 million people log in and play Clash of Clans every day.
That’s a current number, so clearly, the game still has a healthy following.
How Long Will Clash of Clans Last?
Considering how many people are still playing the game more than 10 years after its launch, it’s safe to say that the game isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
It’s still making the developers money, and it still has a strong fanbase.
Conservatively, you can estimate that Clash of Clans will be going strong for another five years.
Shy of anything major happening to Supercell—or mobile gaming around the world—, I think it’s reasonable to assume that Clash of Clans will still have hundreds of thousands of players in 10 years.
The game clearly has longevity.
People have been playing for a long time, and there are no reasons to think that they will suddenly stop playing.
Likely, the fanbase will slowly decline over time, but the fact is that this game has legs, and it would be weird for such a popular game to die any faster than that.
What Will Kill Clash of Clans? (5 Scenarios)
Still, there are things that could bring Clash of Clans to an unexpected and abrupt end.
I’m going to repeat this like a mantra because I don’t want to scare any fans of the game.
The ideas below are not predictions.
There is no evidence that any of these things are currently happening to Clash of Clans.
I’m just pointing out ways that other games have died in the past.
That’s all.
With that in mind, these are the things that could darken Clash of Clans’ bright future.
#1 Money Mismanagement
First off, this is not a suggestion that Supercell is currently mismanaging money.
The company is privately owned, so its finances are not a matter of public record.
I have no reason to believe that Supercell is in financial trouble.
Instead, I’m pointing out a scenario that has happened to other game developers in the past.
Here’s how the story goes.
A company makes a game.
That game does very well for multiple years.
Eventually, the player base begins to wane.
The company does not adjust money management for the shrinking player base and revenue, and ultimately, the company mismanages its funds and goes bankrupt.
The popular game, with plenty of active players, goes offline forever.
This is one way that Clash of Clans could die.
If Supercell (or the parent company, Tencent) ran into enough financial trouble, it could spell doom for this popular game.
Again, this isn’t a prediction.
It’s just a what-if.
#2 A New Project
On the other hand, plenty of game developers that have a hit game go on to do just fine financially.
Instead of mishandling funds as a player base begins to shrink, they adapt and steer into new revenue streams.
It’s pretty common for game-developing companies to release new games from time to time.
Once again, this isn’t a prediction.
I’m not aware of any game plans by Supercell that would have any impact on Clash of Clans.
It’s just a story that has applied to other games in the past.
In this case, Clash of Clans is doing fine.
Supercell is also doing well, but because Clash of Clans has fallen from its peak popularity, Supercell decides to reinvest resources in a new game.
The new game does really well, so Supercell doubles down and really pours everything into the new game.
There aren’t enough developers left to take care of Clash of Clans, so it slowly dies.
#3 Decay
The slow-death scenario actually doesn’t depend on Supercell developing a new game.
Whether they are making new games or not, it’s pretty common for developers to slowly reduce how much they put into a game—even a popular game—over time.
Ultimately, they don’t want to keep tying up everything they have with one game, especially as its growth prospects seem to dwindle.
So, they don’t invest as much in Clash of Clans.
They stop fixing bugs very quickly.
They don’t release any updates or new content.
Support for the game—especially when people make in-game purchases—becomes less reliable.
All of the little things pile up over time, and small neglects turn into one large heap of problems that makes the game harder and harder to play and enjoy.
The game suffers from a kind of decay through neglect, and more and more players stop playing.
I’ll say this one more time.
This is not actually a prediction.
So far, Supercell looks to be quite invested in maintaining Clash of Clans for the foreseeable future.
But if that ever changes, neglect can lead to decay, and it can kill a game.
#4 A Spiritual Successor
We already went over how Supercell might give less attention to Clash of Clans if and when they release new games.
But, there’s a way that a new game could kill Clash of Clans even if it isn’t made by Supercell.
Basically, any game developer could potentially release a new game that widely appeals to people who play a lot of Clash of Clans.
If that happens, the new game will pull a lot of players away from the old favorite (Clash of Clans).
That reduction in player base could dramatically lower Clash of Clans revenue, and it could force Supercell to spend less money on the game.
Ultimately, you have a new game that is something of a spiritual successor to Clash of Clans, and its success leads to the inevitable demise of Clash of Clans.
#5 Server Shutdown
Last but not least is the risk of a server shutdown.
Clash of Clans is a game that relies on Supercell servers in order to run.
The Clash of Clans world is persistent, and that’s only possible with dedicated servers running the game.
For any of the reasons above, Supercell could choose to shut down the Clash of Clans servers.
Even scarier is that they could make this decision for reasons we can’t even guess or anticipate.
The bottom line is pretty simple.
If Supercell ever decides to shut the servers down, Clash of Clans dies that very same day.
It doesn’t matter how many people are playing the game or how much they love it.
If the servers ever go offline, the game literally becomes unplayable.
What Could Keep Clash of Clans Going? (3 Things)
But you shouldn’t need to live in constant fear of Clash of Clans suddenly dying (assuming you’re among the many people who enjoy the game).
As I said before, I think it very safely has years of life left.
It would take something extraordinary for Clash of Clans to die in the next five years.
But what about beyond the next five years?
What would keep the game going indefinitely?
For that, some things might need to change.
Very few games survive indefinitely without a little bit of love from the developers.
There are exceptions, Clash of Clans could prove to be one, and we’ll discuss all of that in a bit.
First, let’s assume that Clash of Clans is a normal game, and it does need support in order to survive.
What would that support look like?
#1 Basic Support
Clash of Clans has been around for a decade now, and plenty of people are still playing it.
Obviously, the game doesn’t need a ton from the developers to keep fans happy.
If the game only maintained basic support, that would be enough to keep the game alive for a very long time.
What do I mean by basic support?
First, Supercell needs to keep customer service alive and well.
A big part of Clash of Clans is making in-game purchases.
No matter how polished the automated transaction systems might be, people sometimes need support.
If that support is lacking, the game will slowly lose even loyal fans.
If a few helplines are left open, the game can survive indefinitely.
At the same time, the game also needs a core crew of developers who keep an eye on things to ensure everything runs well.
If a bug appears, you need someone to fix the bug and release an update for it.
This is pretty low-level maintenance—especially because a 10-year-old game has already seen a lot of kinks ironed out over the years.
But, at least this much is necessary to keep the game going.
#2 A Revamp
It’s also possible to go beyond basic support.
Supercell could decide to take steps to try to revitalize and grow the player base, and there are a few different ways they could do that.
The most obvious is with new content.
Any time new content is released for a game like this, a lot of old players return, and some new players are inspired to try the game.
Those effects are largely temporary, but occasional content releases don’t have to be that difficult, and they can do a lot for the game’s longevity.
A very different revival could take place entirely in the game’s shop.
Supercell could restructure in-game purchases to try to make a lot of things cheaper or more accessible to new players.
The game’s hardcore fans will likely continue to invest in the game as they have been, but making the game feel more approachable for new players is a big thing.
Clash of Clans has been around long enough that breaking into the game as a newcomer can feel intimidating.
Anything Supercell can do to lower that intimidation without destroying the game or harming the existing player base would certainly extend the game’s life by many years.
#3 A Dedicated Fan Base
Or, Clash of Clans could be one of those exceptions.
It could be a game that has such a dedicated fan base that Supercell’s decisions are largely irrelevant to the game’s longevity (as long as the servers stay on).
To put this in perspective, I’m going to talk about another game.
Have you ever heard of Smash Brothers?
It’s a popular Nintendo series that pits the company’s most iconic characters against each other in whacky battles.
There have been six versions of the game so far, the latest of which launched in 2018 and still has many millions of regular players.
In all of Smash Brother’s history, there is an outlier—an oddity that is worth mentioning.
The second game of the series is called Super Smash Brothers Melee, and it was released in 2001.
Despite its age, it still maintains a strong, dedicated player base that loves the game, and the total number of people playing has actually grown in the past few years.
This happened despite the fact that Nintendo largely abandoned the game with a successor when it launched the third game in the series.
And again with the fourth, fifth, and sixth versions of Smash Brothers.
With absolutely no support, fans of Melee have developed their own culture, and they have even made the game more accessible to new players without any help or support from Nintendo.
Melee, as a game, faced every threat I mentioned before.
It stopped receiving support.
Nintendo made multiple sequels to the game.
There were other spiritual successors.
Absolutely all money was pulled out of Melee development and support.
Despite all of that, the game is thriving and arguably more popular than ever.
If the fans of Clash of Clans are dedicated enough, they could make their game an exception much like Melee and a handful of other games that have weathered storms and proven their longevity.