The popular fan site House of Clashers, dedicated to Clash of Clans, is closing its doors after a decade of operation and is shutting down. This decision by the creator has been attributed to a lot of factors including server costs and site expenses.
House of Clashers was the go-to site for many Clash of Clans players
House of Clashers, which opened in 2013, is a popular fan-made website dedicated to Supercell’s frontline strategy mobile game. The site over the years provided various resources and information about the game, including strategies, tips, base layouts, and updates, and has also a great number of articles dedicated to every aspect of the game.
In the post shared by the site owner on X, the decision to shut down the site was due to challenges with covering server costs, development expenses, and updating content without support. The creator, who ran the site as a side job driven by fun, and passion for this game, highlights achievements such as serving 1 billion stats through an API.
However, another notable fact is that the owner never became an official Content Creator given how big the site was, and surprisingly faced about 20+ rejections despite running a huge site like this. Nevertheless, the creator cherishes the positive experiences and professional fulfillment gained from the project. The schedule of shut down hasn’t been informed yet.
I, personally, have a lot of memories attached to the site, given I started to look into guides and gameplay thanks to this site and eased a lot of Clash of Clans queries. Also, the Clash of Clans team should have looked into such resources, as it is a sad state that a fan site like this going down when we don’t have many to cherish.
House of Clashers creator shares thoughts on his site, missing out on being a Supercell creator, and future plans
Update, November 23, 2023: Aftermath of the announcement, we sat with an interview with the House of Clashers creator to discuss in-depth about the site shutdown.
1. Decisions like this are never easy. What triggered you to take this big step, apart from the cost involved? I believe you already knew that this project would have its expenses when you first started.
You bet it was not an easy call, but I was well aware that this would involve costs and many hours of work it would take. However, this project was never conventional to me, especially at the beginning. Back in 2012, when the idea first emerged, I was a junior software developer, crafting my initial lines of code. At that time, I was genuinely addicted to the recently launched game, Clash of Clans.
I have always been passionate about gaming and enjoyed expressing that passion through writing. During my teenage years, I used to write reviews for all the games I played, publishing them on a couple of Brazilian gaming portals.
With this background, when I began programming, the idea to create an app about Clash of Clans felt natural. The concept was to develop an interactive guide where the community could access stats, stay updated on news, learn tactics, watch videos, and, to me, unite my three passions: playing games, writing about them, and computer programming.
Was I concerned about costs and hours of work? Certainly not, though I never anticipated it would reach 100k daily users at its peak and feature 1,000 pages of original content.
The primary goal of this project was never about money. First and foremost, I was doing something I genuinely wanted to do. Second, if it made money, that was even better. I suppose this is the main reason why House of Clashers lasted so long—not caring too much about anything else besides programming and content. This is also probably the reason it’s eventually coming to an end.
Now, 10 years later, my life has changed, Clash of Clans has evolved, the gaming industry has transformed, the way I work is different, and developing costs have skyrocketed. Naturally, I don’t have as many hours to dedicate to a “hobby” project as I used to, given that I now run my own programming company and have a completely different life. Consequently, after so many years, my approach to the projects I have time for has changed as well.
Does this mean the House of Clashers should end? Absolutely not. However, when all factors are combined, I don’t see a reason to keep it going; without any new objective, or a new goal, it feels like there is nothing else to achieve. The mission was accomplished.
2. You mentioned you used to run this site alone, why did you never hire someone to support this project? At least you could have asked for help in the clash communities across the old forum or Reddit.
I did write every single line of code that runs the House of Clashers system, but I can’t claim to have created all the content by myself.
I always had support from the community, and over the years, many YouTubers shared their strategies on House of Clashers. Some of them have since become prominent YouTubers, and it makes me proud to have opened the door for them when they were just starting and never charged anything. Of course, I won’t assert that they grew solely because of House of Clashers, but it does make me proud to have supported them in their early days, even if it was with just a couple of thousand views.
Besides that, I was also a Wikia (now Fandom) editor for many games, eventually becoming an admin on the Boom Beach Wikia. I rely on these platforms for fact-checking and obtaining assistance with the stats. Not to mention the official forums — man, I genuinely miss that place.
3. You also mentioned you never got the invitation to Helsinki HQ. The Clash of Clans team was obviously closely following your work (considering Twitter follows House of Clashers). Do you think Supercell has a bias towards those content creators who make videos rather than written content or other forms of web-based data?
Supercell takes excellent care of Clash YouTubers, which is absolutely fantastic. However, based on my experience, I can’t say they show bias towards them. Today, 10 years after I conceived the House of Clashers idea, I’m still involved in this project, and this wouldn’t be possible without Supercell’s support.
Going back to 2012 when I started House of Clashers, I encountered a big issue that I know many app developers can relate to: Apple’s App Store and its highly strict rules and guidelines.
While creating an app companion for a game might seem trivial today, back in 2012, in the early days of the AppStore, it was disruptive. The first hurdle I had to overcome was Apple’s App Store reviews and guidelines. Naturally, House of Clashers faced several rejections due to copyright issues. Did I take no for an answer? Of course not. I reached out to Supercell, and I couldn’t be happier with their support.
Developing software about a game, using their intellectual property, had never been done before; it was a new idea at a time when even gaming YouTube videos were being taken down due to copyright infringements. This might sound crazy for young YouTubers, but I’m not kidding.
After explaining the idea to create an interactive guide to Supercell’s original Content Managers and Brand Managers (though I’m not sure if it was an actual role back then), they provided all the necessary support to get the app approved and published.
It was so early in the content creators’ program that Supercell’s Fan Content Policy was still fresh, and the “app” was added during House of Clashers’ publishing process, setting the path for creating fan apps—a trend followed by many others since then. After numerous emails and even a call to Apple’s App Review Board, House of Clashers was published in 2013.
To this day, I have nothing but respect and gratitude for Supercell and the Brand Marketing and Community Managers involved in this process back then, especially Steve, as they were truly ahead of their time. They helped pave the way for a new era of content policies that impact the entire gaming industry and generate income for millions of content creators. For me, it changed my life, serving as the kickstart for my career as a computer programmer.
Returning to the main question, are they biased towards YouTubers? Today, I must say they are simply going for the cherry on the cake, and I can’t blame them. The new Supercell Creators website is absolutely fantastic. However, the content creator community is much larger than that. In my case, I was never able to properly apply and the original Content Managers I had contact with are long gone. If they want my two cents, I’d say they are leaving a significant portion of this pie on the table.
Written content attracts a different audience than YouTube; it provides straight-to-the-point information. Today, the written content is incredibly significant, with Google generating millions of clicks through organic searches daily.
While this may sound obvious, not every gamer watches YouTube gaming or Twitch streams, especially for occasional games like Clash of Clans. However, these players actively search the web to stay informed about their favorite games. It’s this audience that made House of Clashers so popular, and I take pride in having cracked Google’s SEO, generating millions of clicks from them without spending a dime on advertising.
4. What will happen to the site and app? And now you’re shutting it down so will you continue playing Clash of Clans?
The announcement of the shutdown came this week, but unfortunately, House of Clashers has been encountering issues for over a year now. As Clash of Clans has grown significantly over the years, updating all content and strategies has become a more time-consuming task than ever before. In other words, House of Clashers now contains many outdated pieces of information.
However, it’s not just outdated content; the platform running the House of Clashers app and website is also outdated. Fixing this alone would require a couple of weeks of work, mainly due to the immense size our database has reached over the years, and the special software running it.
House of Clashers operates on custom software created specifically to synchronize content across multiple frontends; it’s an API-based cloud system. This approach allowed me to create apps with real-time updates and a great user experience. Well, at least until 2022 when they were properly maintained.
Unfortunately, there is no easy fix for these issues, and as a result, both the apps and the website will eventually be taken down unless they receive a significant update, which I don’t see happening in the current scenario.
Despite this, I’ll continue playing Clash of Clans. I’ve been playing since the beginning of 2012, and old habits die hard. Admittedly, I don’t grind as much as I used to, but I still play occasionally and keep up with updates, even without writing about them on House of Clashers anymore.
5. What’s next for you? Do you have plans for other projects like this?
While the decision to shut down House of Clashers is truly heartbreaking for me, it’s important to note that its closure doesn’t equate to failure. The project was a resounding success during its existence, and maintaining House of Clashers indefinitely was never my ultimate goal. The primary focus was always on learning and pushing boundaries—whether it be programming, SEO, APIs, Cloud Management, or experimenting with new ideas. Professionally, it was the most fulfilling time I’ve had in terms of work and programming, and I will always miss that experience.
With the conclusion of House of Clashers, my attention will shift back to the programming company I co-founded, Franke Apps. It’s a cloud management software company that builds APIs for businesses on a subscription model, with low development costs and high scalability. This data can then be synced across multiple frontends, including apps, websites, watches, or TVs—you name it.
That’s where I serve as a backend developer, responsible for building APIs and managing cloud systems, and that’s why achieving the milestone of serving 1 billion stats through an API on House of Clashers was a significant accomplishment for me, something I take immense pride in, and definitely goes to my resume.
To borrow a quote from Ilkka Paananen, let’s “not focus on what has worked in the past.” If there’s no feasible way to sustain House of Clashers in the way it deserves, it’s time to move forward, as much as it makes me sad to see all the content going down. Let’s celebrate the incredible journey and experience it provided, and I’m excited about what lies ahead.
What are your thoughts on the Clash of Clans fan site House of Clashers shutting down after 10 years? Let us know in the comment section below!
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