Metacore plans restructuring affecting up to 160 roles amid slowdown

Metacore said it was planning a restructuring that could affect up to 160 roles as it tries to refocus on Merge Mansion and respond to a more competitive market. The company said it had started change negotiations in Finland and was also examining possible changes in Germany and Sweden, a sign that the pressure now reaches beyond Helsinki and into the rest of its footprint.

The move lands after a run of expansion that looked far more comfortable from the outside. Metacore said in 2023 that it had brought in about 80 employees and opened its Berlin office as its first location beyond Helsinki, while also saying talent was the company’s biggest bottleneck for growth. That expansion now reads like a snapshot of how fast a single hit can pull an organization outward, then force it to tighten again when the curve bends.

Merge Mansion, launched in 2020, remains the center of the story. Metacore says the game has entertained over 60 million players worldwide and generated USD 700 million in lifetime revenue. The studio also said it made EUR 154 million in revenue in 2024 and was profitable. Yet Metacore has now acknowledged that the game’s growth plateaued after its launch, and that efforts to launch new games globally did not land as hoped. Mika Tammenkoski said the studio had built growth ambitions that did not materialize and that changes were needed to keep the company competitive.

Ownership is changing as well. Supercell, already a major shareholder, will acquire the rest of Metacore and bring Merge Mansion into its live games portfolio. Supercell said its experience turning around and scaling global live games, along with its live operations and user acquisition capabilities, could help Merge Mansion climb back to the top of its category. The deal still needs regulatory approval, and the companies did not disclose financial terms. Tammenkoski said he believes Supercell is the best future home for the game.

For Nintendo readers, the lesson is less about one layoff headline than about studio design. A company built around a broad portfolio can absorb a slump in one franchise differently than a studio whose growth is tied tightly to a single breakout mobile title. Metacore’s numbers show the tension clearly: in 2025 it said Merge Mansion had surpassed 55 million downloads and more than $500 million in lifetime revenue, and by January 2026 it said the game had topped 60 million players and more than USD 760 million in lifetime revenue. Even at that scale, the organization still had to reset around the realities of a maturing live game.