Metacore appoints Jose Saarniniemi as General Manager of Merge Mansion

Metacore announced today the appointment of Jose Saarniniemi as General Manager of Merge Mansion, the studio's hit game that pioneered the merge-2 category, and has generated over $800 million in lifetime revenue with over 65 million downloads globally.

Saarniniemi has worked most recently at Small Giant Games, where he served as CEO. Under his leadership, the studio scaled from €10 million to €400+ million in annual revenue, delivered profits of more than €150 million a year, and became one of Finland's most profitable game companies. He also led Small Giant Games through its integration with Zynga following the studio's acquisition and grew the organization from 30 to 120 people.

Alongside the commercial track record, Jose is known for building one of the most stable and well-regarded workplaces in the Finnish game industry.

"Jose is a rare combination of business and people leader," says Mika Tammenkoski, CEO of Metacore. "He has a proven ability to scale games into category-defining businesses. What stood out to us is how he does it: hands-on, product-focused, data-driven, and deeply committed to building a culture where people can do their best work. Merge Mansion created the merge-2 category, and Jose is exactly the leader to help us reclaim the top spot."

"I'm really happy to be joining Metacore and start working with the talented team. Metacoreans behind Merge Mansion have created something exceptional, and the game still has the strongest IP and brand in the genre," says Jose Saarniniemi. "Competitors have grown and taken market share in recent years, but the foundations here are extraordinary. I'm convinced we can win back the leader position. I'm also hoping to support the Finnish game industry to return back to its growth track and work for the best of the ecosystem."

Saarniniemi steps into the General Manager role effective as of June 15, 2026.