Sulake

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sulake

logo
legal form Oy
founding 2000
Seat Helsinki , FinlandFinlandFinland 
management Valtteri Karu ( CEO )
sales approx. 41 million euros (2017)
Branch Computer games , social media
Website www.sulake.com

Sulake is a Finnish social entertainment company based in Helsinki that develops video games and claims to focus on safe and fun platforms for self-expression .

The company is best known for its online virtual community Habbo and has offices in London and Madrid in addition to its headquarters in Helsinki .

Sulake has been part of the Dutch media, technology and entertainment company Azerion since June 2018 .

history

Aapo Kyrölä (left) and Sampo Karjalainen in the then Sulake office (2000)
Habbo logo

In 1999 the two Finns Sampo Karjalainen and Aapo Kyrölä attracted attention with their leisure project “Mobile Disco”. The online application served as a meeting point for fans of the Finnish rap band “Mobiles”. For this, they developed a on Java -based Open Source - GNU called "FUSE Light", an alternative to Macromedia's Shockwave . The main difference between the two technologies was that FUSE Light was designed for all operating systems . At the request of the Finnish telecommunications company Elisa , the two of them worked with the Finnish advertising agency Taivas to develop a virtual world called "Hotelli Kultakala" (German Hotel Goldfisch ) based on their project. The Sulake company was founded in May 2000 for its further development and administration . The name is the Finnish translation of the English word Fuse .

In the same year, the British entrepreneur Dee Edwards expressed interest in an English-language version of the Hotelli Kultakala. In January 2001 this was published under the name " Habbo Hotel ". Since both the Finnish and the English language version enjoyed great international popularity, Sulake decided to expand this concept.

The turnover in 2002 was 2.3 million euros.

In 2003 Taivas invested 1 million euros and the British financial investor 3i invested a further 3 million euros in Sulake. The turnover was 4.9 million euros and in 2004 around 13.8 million euros.

In another investment round in 2005, Sulake collected around 18 million euros from the investors Benchmark Capital , 3i and Elisa. The turnover was 29.8 million euros.

A year later, the Japanese Movida Group invested 6 million euros as a strategic partner in the Finnish company for growth in Asia . At the end of 2006, Sulake had offices in 19 different countries. The turnover was 33.2 million euros.

In 2007 Sulake bought the Finnish company "Dynamoid Oy" for 12.5 million euros, whose product IRC-Galleria was the largest social network in Finland with over 415,000 active users at the time. Only four years later, the IRC Galleria was sold again.

In the same year sales were 43 million euros.

In 2008 the turnover was 50 million euros, in 2009 49 million euros and in 2010 56.2 million euros.

In September 2011 Timo Soininen resigned from his position as CEO after 10 years and switched to the supervisory board . Paul LaFontaine was then appointed as his successor. LaFontaine previously held a position at Disney .

In February 2012 it became public that Sulake will unexpectedly lay off 25% of its workforce and close various country offices.

In June 2012 the British television station Channel 4 reported on the dangers of pedophiles in the Habbo due to poor moderation . As a result, Sulake's second largest shareholder , Balderton Capital, sold its 13% stake in the company. A short time later, the largest shareholder 3i followed with its 16%. In addition, the European Commission launched an investigation and threatened to close the site if Sulake did not address the problems.

In October 2012 it was announced that Sulake would again lay off up to 60 of its 90 employees.

Sales in the same year amounted to a total of 22 million euros.

In January 2013, Sulake announced that Markku Ignatius would be appointed as the new CEO, as Paul LaFontaine is leaving the company after only 15 months in office. At this point, Ignatius had already been employed by the company for seven years.

On February 7, 2013, Elisa Oyj announced that it would increase its stake in Sulake Corporation Oy from 24% to up to 100%, thereby gaining full control over the company. The purchase price totaled 6 million euros. A few months earlier, Elisa had increased her share from 17% at the time to 24%.

From April 1, 2013, Antti-Jussi Suominen acted as the new Sulake CEO. He previously held a leadership role at Elisa and a seat on Sulake's board of directors. In January 2017 he left the company and switched to the Finnish banking service provider Holvi.

From January 5 to May 17, 2017, Mikael Rönnblad and then Jyrki Arjanne took over the post of CEO on an interim basis until July 5. A few weeks later, Liisa Puurunen was finally appointed Sulake's new CEO. All three came from Elisa.

In June 2018, the Dutch company Azerion (at that time still under the OrangeGames brand) acquired 51% of the shares in Sulake for 3 million euros. Elisa kept the option open to further reduce her participation to up to 30%. On July 13, 2018, Sulake Corporation Oy changed its name to “Sulake Prepaid Oy” and Sulake Suomi Oy changed its name to “Sulake Oy”, where the original business of the former Sulake Corporation Oy was relocated. Sulake Prepaid Oy continued to be a wholly owned subsidiary of Elisa, while Sulake Oy is majority owned by Azerion.

In the same month long-time employee Valtteri Karu was appointed CEO of Sulake Oy.

Other Projects

Bobba Bar logo
Logo of the Hotel Hideaway

Coke Studios

Coke Studios was a virtual world developed by Studiocom in 2002 on behalf of Coca-Cola . The company initially used Sulake's technology and expertise for this purpose, until it later deployed its own engine in 2004 . The product was discontinued on December 6, 2007.

Virtual Magic Kingdom

In 2005 Sulake developed the virtual world Virtual Magic Kingdom (VMK) in the style of an amusement park for Disney . The occasion was the 50th birthday of Disneyland . The product was discontinued in 2008.

Mini Friday

In November 2006 Sulake started a test project in the form of a free application that was supposed to evaluate the compatibility and usefulness of virtual worlds on mobile phones . However, the service could only be used with selected Nokia mobile devices and only persons of legal age were allowed, as the service was not actively moderated . On September 30, 2010, Mini Friday was discontinued in favor of the Bobba Bar . According to the company, a total of 1.7 million accounts were ultimately created, with the service particularly enjoying great popularity in East Asia .

Bobba Bar

In November 2009 Sulake published the virtual world Bobba Bar. This was an app that was initially only available for iOS devices. Use was permitted for people aged 17 and over and enabled conversations in the vicinity of a virtual bar . The name was based on the word filter of Habbo, in which inappropriate utterances are replaced by a bobba . The Bobba Bar was closed in 2014.

Lost Monkey

Lost Monkey was released in September 2011 and was the first mobile app to bring elements of the Habbo to mobile devices. The aim of the app was to rescue a monkey from an abandoned island in different levels. Virtual furniture and a pet beckoned to the user for his Habbo account.

Niko

On January 19, 2012, Sulake released another mobile app that was developed in collaboration with the Swedish video game developer Fabrication Games. Niko there was a jump-'n'-Run game which, however, after the first six levels a paid full version required. Here, too, it was possible to earn extras for your Habbo account.

Hotel Hideaway

Hotel Hideaway is the latest virtual world of Sulake in the form of 3D - role play and appeared officially in April 2018. The app is aimed at people aged 17 and over.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b About. In: sulake.com. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Sulake Oy. In: asiakastieto.fi. Retrieved October 29, 2019 (Finnish).
  3. ^ Sulake Corporation Oy. In: asiakastieto.fi. Retrieved in 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b Elisa - Financial Statements 2018. (PDF; 2.0 MB) In: corporate.elisa.com. January 30, 2019, pp. 33, 85, 87 , accessed October 29, 2019 (OrangeGames is now Azerion).
  5. ^ A b Sulake, the company. In: habborator.org. Retrieved October 29, 2019 (English, Habbo fansite).
  6. ↑ FUSE Light ( Memento from August 2, 2002 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ a b Habbo Hotel laajenee ensi vuonna 15 uuteen maahan. (PDF; 26.8 KB) In: cision.com. November 11, 2003, accessed October 29, 2019 (Finnish).
  8. ↑ Sulake sai kasvuunsa 18 miljoonaa euroa uuttapääomaa. (PDF; 32.2 KB) In: cision.com. January 19, 2005, accessed October 29, 2019 (Finnish).
  9. ↑ 3i co-Invests in $ 23.5m round for Sulake Corporation. In: 3i.com. January 19, 2005, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  10. ^ A b c Sulake, the company. In: habborator.org. Retrieved October 29, 2019 (English, Habbo fansite).
  11. ↑ Movida Group Invest EUR 6 million in Habbo. In: businesswire.com. July 10, 2006, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  12. ^ Sulake: Contacts ( Memento of December 30, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ^ Sulake: Press Room ( Memento from June 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ↑ Antti Vilpponen: Sulake Revenue Grows + 20%, Sells IRC-Gallery. In: arcticstartup.com. March 31, 2011, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Sulake vahvassa kasvussa. (PDF; 32.4 KB) In: cision.com. May 20, 2010, accessed October 29, 2019 (Finnish).
  16. ↑ Habbo Hotelin menestys kasvatti Sulakkeen liikevaihdon ennätyslukemiin vuonna 2010. (PDF; 104 KB) In: cision.com. March 31, 2011, accessed October 29, 2019 (Finnish).
  17. ↑ Antti Vilpponen: Sulake CEO Timo Soininen Steps Down. In: arcticstartup.com. September 7, 2011, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Jouni Mäki-Panula: Suomalainen Sulake vetäytyy maailmalta, irtisanoo tuntuvasti. In: muropaketti.com. February 16, 2012, accessed October 29, 2019 (Finnish).
  19. ↑ Matthew Handrahan: Habbo's main investor withdraws finance. In: gamesindustry.biz. June 15, 2012, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  20. ^ Sulake To Begin Talks To Reduce Workforce By Up To 2/3. In: arcticstartup.com. October 29, 2012, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  21. ↑ a b Elisasta Sulake Corporation: n pääomistaja. In: corporate.elisa.fi. February 7, 2013, accessed October 29, 2019 (Finnish).
  22. ↑ Dmitri Sarle: Sulake's CEO - Paul LaFontaine Steps Down. In: arcticstartup.com. January 4, 2013, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Elisa - 1st Quarter Results 2013. (PDF; 635 KB) In: corporate.elisa.com. April 19, 2013, p. 23 , accessed on October 29, 2019 .
  24. ^ Elisa - Notes to the consolidated financial statements. (PDF; 415 KB) In: elisa.fi. February 5, 2013, p. 37 , accessed on October 29, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Ignatius completes interim period and steps down as CEO; Antti-Jussi Suominen to head Sulake ( Memento from October 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  26. ↑ Holvi announces Antti-Jussi Suominen as new CEO. In: finextra.com. November 9, 2016, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Elina Ranta: Uraauurtaneessa nettipalvelussa ovi käy. In: is.fi. July 12, 2017, accessed October 29, 2019 (Finnish).
  28. ↑ Jeff Skop: Coke Studios. In: jeffskop.com. Retrieved October 29, 2019 .
  29. ^ Fiona Romeo: Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom. In: foeromeo.org. October 7, 2011, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Mini Friday ( Memento from April 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  31. ↑ Uli Busch: Sulake invites you to the Social Café. In: wuv.de. November 10, 2009, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  32. ↑ Tom Curtis: Habbo Hotel Brand Goes Mobile With New iOS Game. In: gamasutra.com. September 30, 2011, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  33. ↑ Jon Jordan: Sulake preps Habbo Hotel tie-in action platformer Niko for iOS release. In: pocketgamer.com. January 13, 2012, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  34. ↑ Lisa Bisset: Habbo Hotel developer opens new MMORPG Hotel Hideaway on iOS and Android. In: pocketgamer.biz. April 10, 2018, accessed October 29, 2019 .