Habbo 2011: €44 million. Habbo 2013: €10 million.

[Michael]

Rewritten article from Mangetoica (a French fansite): http://mangetoica.com/archives/72629

Habbo has been around for nearly 15 years, and over that time it has became the largest community for teenagers across the world with over 250 million accounts created and more than a billion views on the homepages of each hotel each month. However not everything is pitch perfect, and us users have known that for a few years now.

Kauppalehti, a Finnish business newspaper has recently released figures on the catastrophic financial health of Sulake, the company that operates Habbo.
In 2011, Sulake made EUR 44.8 million - a record performance, and saw Sulake preparing to sell off its IRC-Galleria website.
In 2012, Sulake made EUR 22.6 million - a rigid divide in Sulakes revenues, some could blame this upon the mute, whereby Sulake having to throw a lot of resources into improving their moderation and satisfying their shareholders (?).
In 2013, Sulake made EUR 10.5 million - again the turnover had been halved, this could be down to user decline, the rise in pirate hotels & illegal credit trading taking off.

It is also recorded by Kauppalehti that Sulake itself only has 43 staff members working for them in 2013. This excludes outsourced moderation and probably staff who are hired under Elisa (for example, the Stories team)

But, alas - one man struggles while another relaxes, the Elisa company released their 2013 figures at the begininng of this year showing where the pot of money is at, with a turnover of a billion pounds.

It's now or never Sulake, you must keep moving with the time, transform Habbo into something special - add new features, a new client, mini games & reasons for people to continue to play, or else it won't look pretty in the near future.

Links:
http://www.kauppalehti.fi/yritykset/yritys/sulake+corporation+oy/16036286
http://mangetoica.com/archives/72629
http://vuosikertomus.elisa.fi/en/

[jorsian]

It's now or never Sulake, you must keep moving with the time, transform Habbo into something special - add new features, a new client, mini games & reasons for people to continue to play, or else it won't look pretty in the near future.


Aren't those some of the exact reasons why people are losing interest? They transformed Habbo into something unrecognizable with all the cluttered features. As a new player I would be extremely confused with all of the stuff there is to learn.

I believe the best thing they could do is organize the site and put emphasis on old features that already saw massive popularity with the community (Battleball, classic rares, public rooms, the old "look" of the hotel, simpler graphics). Sometimes less really is more.

[Aiden]

I've stopped using Habbo so I understand why many others have. The entire Habbo thing just seems a little old now anyway so I wouldn't care if it died. Good luck I guess though?

[Michael]

Aren't those some of the exact reasons why people are losing interest? They transformed Habbo into something unrecognizable with all the cluttered features. As a new player I would be extremely confused with all of the stuff there is to learn.

I believe the best thing they could do is organize the site and put emphasis on old features that already saw massive popularity with the community (Battleball, classic rares, public rooms). Sometimes less really is more.

The times have changed though, people ask themselves why should they spend time on Habbo when they could be playing the next fast-paced game. Personally I believe what was great in 2006, won't be the same in 2014.

[jorsian]

The times have changed though, people ask themselves why should they spend time on Habbo when they could be playing the next fast-paced game. Personally I believe what was great in 2006, won't be the same in 2014.

People move on for different reasons, I'll grant you, but it's no doubt been a request of MANY users that Old Habbo be brought back. I believe if we had the same client and staff from 2006 the population would be on a steady rise.

[auffant1]

Habbo cannot live forever like any game cannot live forever. Who knows maybe a new game similar to Habbo will come along and woops there goes Habbo :P

[Storking]

Yeah it's seemed like things were tough since the channel 4 exposé but for turnover to being halving year on year is worrying. Especially if it's continued to drop for 2014, what's the future of Habbo?

Although over the past 6 months i've felt like things client-side have finally plateaued out/improved and I hope things are improving financially too.

[Kyle]

they're right. habbo needs to rely less on user generated content and more on developing a sturdy minigame platform that doesn't stagnate after a few levels. moshi monsters is bigger than ever because of it.

also lol at paul lafontaine effectively losing the company 30 million!

[Lewis]

oh god

this is worrying, i hope 2014's is better

[-Nick]

It all started to die when they stopped gambling, tax credit etc...

[Drewar]

I agree with jorsian... I find the hotel to be very difficult to navigate and it is cluttered with a bunch of features that I will never understand. Less can truly be more sometimes, and I think that is true with Habbo.

My hope is that Habbo stays open for many years to come, because it was such an integral part of my youth. It would be sad to see it close. But as a few people have pointed out, those numbers don't look promising...

[sex]

It all started to die when they stopped gambling, tax credit etc...

no it didn't ???????

[lemons]

lol i havent noticed any differences on habbo since they banned gambling apart from the fact that casinos are gone

[ReallyOkay]

It's now or never Sulake, you must keep moving with the time, transform Habbo into something special

Reality is nothings working right now. Both social and game realms are out dated & broken. Why would someone want to join Habbo when they can find an online community on Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube. The first time experience is now so confusing I wouldn't be surprised if the majority exit out after the first 5 minutes. Habbo as a product offers nothing unless you want to troll teenagers. No one new is going to play Habbo longterm. If Elise is happy with the current income they aren't going to invest the large sum of money it would take to develop the new features it desperately needs. It's probably possible for Habbo to last a little on the current group of nostalgic users. However it'll be a slow trickle to death. In which I say just pull the plug now if you don't want to advance your product. I've yet to see any steps to bring Habbo into the future. The 4 year late iPad app certainly didn't do that. These cosmetic changes they've been making are beyond annoying. Stripping the client and bringing it back to the "old school" days isn't going to work. It's about taking what did work and elevating to the next level. Those that keep pushing for a return of old features are killing the future of Habbo. Bring back old features in new ways. User generated content is and should always be at the forefront. The games are staring developers in the face. Stop following trends so strictly and innovate for yourselves. As one of the first freemium models it boggles my mind how they continually focus on the premium side. What was created 14 years ago is not updated for today's world. Habbo has a solid foundation. Expand on it.

[Chippiewill]

It all started to die when they stopped gambling, tax credit etc...

It all started dying a lot longer ago than that.

[:odey:]

Excuse me i'll definitely take 10.5 mil over nothing.

[Zak]

10 Million Euros is still a huge amount compared to what it takes to keep the site operational, hire moderators and create new content. I can't imagine the running costs for the essentials on Habbo would cost that much at all.

[DPS]

ah well if habbo dies. i play many other games.

[SackRace]

they should never have banned gambling. bad mistake

[Mr-Trainor]

Are these figures revenue or profit?

--

People move on for different reasons, I'll grant you, but it's no doubt been a request of MANY users that Old Habbo be brought back. I believe if we had the same client and staff from 2006 the population would be on a steady rise.
When you say many users, it's probably a very small proportion of the current active users. Taking the client back to what it was 8 years ago would just make Habbo extremely dated and I can't see how that'd help tbh.


It all started to die when they stopped gambling, tax credit etc...
Gambling was only just banned recently, so maybe if 2014 is even worse you could blame that on the ban of gambling, but you can't blame the 2012 and 2013 decline on something which happened in 2014 :P.


they should never have banned gambling. bad mistake
Why not?

[Empired]

People move on for different reasons, I'll grant you, but it's no doubt been a request of MANY users that Old Habbo be brought back. I believe if we had the same client and staff from 2006 the population would be on a steady rise.
I disagree. Even if Old Habbo is brought back, I doubt users would enjoy it as much as they think they would. The best part of Old Habbo wasn't the public rooms or the Big Hand or battleball, it was the idea of a thriving community full of people a new user would find it easy to fit in with. Habbo can bring back all they like but it can't magic back the sense of community.

[Plebings]

yes i blame the ban of casinos too!! they were certainly the ones who would buy credits and not provide sketchy underground deals that lured people away from giving money to sulake!!

[Matt]

Those statistics really do put it all into perspective. To be fair I don't know if they'd be able to improve on that 2013 figure as the hype over Habbo faded out months and months ago, or for me at least.

[Michael]

There's been quite a lot of room bundles, credit deals this year so I'll be interested to see if its still on a decline or if it has rose.

[karter]

gaining former users would be much easier than gaining new users. but yea whatever do the "mini games thing" as if it has worked, ever

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yes i blame the ban of casinos too!! they were certainly the ones who would buy credits and not provide sketchy underground deals that lured people away from giving money to sulake!!
hehehe

[.:TaylorSwift:]

I think the cancellation of Habbo Cards was a BIG Reason why Sulake hasn't been getting money. I certainly can't have habbo credits because I have no actual way of getting any. I'm pretty sure many teens don't have a credit card nor would their parents let the purchase through a phone bill. I know in some other countries Habbo has like Malaysia and Philippines they have no way of purchasing unless they do a survey (most likely won't work) or use a credit card.

[ediootti]

I disagree. Even if Old Habbo is brought back, I doubt users would enjoy it as much as they think they would. The best part of Old Habbo wasn't the public rooms or the Big Hand or battleball, it was the idea of a thriving community full of people a new user would find it easy to fit in with. Habbo can bring back all they like but it can't magic back the sense of community.

I have to agree with Empired. Regardless of how many classic features would be brought back, the old community - exact as it was - will never return with them. Having said that, there are some things I'd like to see returning, like the Camera. I always thought it made a lot of sense.

Of course, again, the effort Sulake is willing to do to bring back some of the old features is totally dependent on the long-term strategy that they have chosen. R&D work for re-creating functionalities that we're never done on Flash would be crazy expensive, and you have to be very sure that an idea flies with your community before committing yourself to the investment.

[Hermis]

Habbo needs to slow down with all new features and furnitures and combine it with maintance.
With maintance I mean showing some love for the actual features and furni which already exist. Rework, redesign or just give them some spotlight. Habbo could succesfully create e.g. a good Japanese-campaign with the already existing furniture and 1-3 new pieces.

I just don't believe we need new pieces of furniture for every single campaign, atleast we didn't back in the old days.

[-Nick]

Habbo needs to slow down with all new features and furnitures and combine it with maintance.
With maintance I mean showing some love for the actual features and furni which already exist. Rework, redesign or just give them some spotlight. Habbo could succesfully create e.g. a good Japanese-campaign with the already existing furniture and 1-3 new pieces.

I just don't believe we need new pieces of furniture for every single campaign, atleast we didn't back in the old days.

Habbo is a bit like fasion, when things continue for awhile, it starts to become 'uncool'. It needs to continusly being updated and new things need to be added.

[Shorty]

It's all about technology and the fact Habbo has not and cannot keep up with it will be the reason we'll see Habbo disappear.

[e5]

It's a shame to see the decline. I'll still pay my BC membership, even though I don't really play that often, just so I can say I tried. I would like to see Habbo keep going.

[kovsky]

We had a lot less things to entertain us in 2006 than we do now. Habbo was groundbreaking then, now it isn't. Has nothing to do with the direction sulake has taken Habbo. Blame the rise of social media/technological advances, not sulake.

[Cody]

I don't understand Sulake, don't you think they would see that they're destroying the Habbo community? And now they banned casino's? Bad move, bad bad move. I mean think about it, Teenagers spend their money on the coins and would gamble it and either win or lose but if cleaned they would HAVE to buy more Habbo coins. And they take away my favorite games, SS, WS, And BB.. I spent over 2,000 coins on tickets for those games and recieved no refund, I'm highly disappointed I emailed Habbo and they said they can't do anything about it.

- - - Updated - - -


We had a lot less things to entertain us in 2006 than we do now. Habbo was groundbreaking then, now it isn't. Has nothing to do with the direction sulake has taken Habbo. Blame the rise of social media/technological advances, not sulake.
I'm not blaming them but they had to have some say on what was going on... :(

[hairpins]

habo til eye dye!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

stil makin lots of monneh tho arn they

[Hawaii5.O]

They're ripping away the pillars of Habbo and replacing them with twigs, it's only soon when the whole thing will collapse. The merge was a big mistake, as putting 5 different cultures in one hotel and expecting to suit each of their desires in a uniform manner isn't going to happen (timezones/language/way of doing things). Staff also don't do much for Habbo's, I remember on Habbo AU when I came back from school around 4pm (when I could actually relate to timezones) staff used to always host games and events and the winners would get a badge, furni, or HC. The staff were really close with all of us, and yes, it was a smaller community but it wasn't that much different than the users active on this hotel now. It gave a sense of community and made you want to play.

Also, gaming has died. I'd say it's picked up a bit, but not much. I remember in the old days the game floor was just as busy as the army and party floors. I think fansites are the ones keeping the games alive atm, Sulake aren't' doing much to encourage gaming apart from got_game? which is actually really pathetic.

The economy is long-gone, bundles have completely destroyed seasonal norms and the removal of casinos havee destroyed supers and most rares. There could have been a more gradual way of doing things, rather than just pulling the plug without any awareness at all. The bundles also have been worth way less than their actual price, and 50% off direct purchase made it even more ridiculous.

Room competitions are a joke, no one even bothers to enter. It's just the same people winning all the time, and they pick the worst rooms.

They say they listen to us, but they keep doing things against what we ask for and bring in things we don't even want. If they want to save themselves, then they're going to need a whole lot of restructuring.

[Couplez]

Bring back itgirl and I will play lOL!

[IWishIWasCool]

#CloseHabboDown

[enzuken123]

what if they add a hunger system like in the sims? :-D

[Adam]

Gambling is illegal for patrons under 18 years of age, Habbo is legal for patrons over 13 years of age.

This is why it was banned.

Also, Habbo has been on the decline forever because it's such a niche.

[-:Undertaker:-]

It'll be interesting to see whether they post a net loss for 2014. My guess is they will.

And then, or soon, it'll be curtains.

[Prosiary]

I'm guessing in 2016 or late 2015 Habbo UK will announce it's closure. You heard it hear first :D

[DJ_Shadow]

I'm guessing in 2016 or late 2015 Habbo UK will announce it's closure. You heard it hear first :D

Habbo UK closed in 2010.

[Prosiary]

Habbo UK closed in 2010.

Habbo.com then, you know what I mean :P

[Lewis]

i think they'll end up making habbo kind of like runescape, one site for all languages and maybe different world/hotel selects dnno

[Hawaii5.O]

TBH I think they should turn the main page into a more current Social Networking site, as said before the virtual hotel is long gone. People don't really care about playing these types of things anymore. I think they should turn Habbo Homepages into something like a Facebook home page, where people can post stuff and write comments (like an upgraded guestbook). Also maybe make a main page where you can post statuses / engage in a forum.

Also, when new members come they really don't have much to stay for. Rooms and games are so dead, and they can't do anything without furniture. Credits are WAY too expensive and they make catalog furniture really expensive as well, so it discourages people from even buying stuff. They need a major transformation if they want to stay alive, everything is so outdated and they keep heading in the wrong direction.

[woopiex]

It isnt profit, they lost 3.7M euros total last year (if you read from finnish news)

[MrMitch]

Aren't those some of the exact reasons why people are losing interest? They transformed Habbo into something unrecognizable with all the cluttered features. As a new player I would be extremely confused with all of the stuff there is to learn.

I believe the best thing they could do is organize the site and put emphasis on old features that already saw massive popularity with the community (Battleball, classic rares, public rooms, the old "look" of the hotel, simpler graphics). Sometimes less really is more.

I completely agree! Habbo needs to strip back to their basics and finally realise what actually worked. Every time they add more product extensions...they lose clients and they lose trust. Old look definitely needs to be brought back; and the old style of management and product evaluation (not overloading their product - Habbo). Keep it Short. Sweet. Simple. Super!


I

[Krazybethw]

I think they just need to re evaluate the hotel See the ages of majority of users etc and see what they do regularly. Then customise the hotel around that. Have things which appeal to the majority age group.

[Red]

I'm not sure they can come back from this now. It's actually shocking how dead the hotel is now. Going on the most visited rooms list and the majority of them are green, which just puts more people of visiting.

[ReallyOkay]

I'm sure everyone will be ecstatic with the new selfie editor update!~!!! You can now fully express yourself by sitting or standing, smiling or looking angry, show your fab backside, and now you can even hold an item!!!!!! How revolutionary :dance: I'm so glad developers spent time on this because a camera really couldn't do the same thing. They are sure to make a hefty profit this year.