Metacore just confirmed 159 layoffs while shuttering its Germany and Sweden operations entirely, folding the bulk of its remaining staff into Supercell's orbit as the Finnish studio's growth story hits the wall. Merge Mansion's player base stopped scaling years ago, and the studio's push into new titles produced zero global hits despite years of investment and Supercell's deep pockets backing the effort. The buyout talks that were already in motion now look like a full absorption play, with the merge-2 pioneer getting absorbed into Supercell's live-games portfolio alongside Hay Day.

Supercell had already poured over $200 million into Metacore across equity and credit lines since 2018, first as a minority backer then as majority shareholder. The restructuring explicitly targets efficiency after new-game bets flopped and Merge Mansion plateaued, trimming what appears to be well over half the workforce from prior peaks near 340 employees. Germany and Sweden offices, which had been part of the expansion push, get the axe with no survivors mentioned in the filings.

This isn't isolated pain—it's the latest chapter in a sector where studios overextend on hype, competition tightens, and acquirers swoop in to salvage the one asset that still prints. The receipts are in the official announcements and repeated coverage across mobile biz outlets; the pattern is the same old story of ambition outrunning results.