Finland – a hotspot in the gaming industry

Nordic countries have now been the hotspot of the game industry for a few years. Companies suc h as Su percell, Mohjang, Rovio, Plain Vanill a and Play dead, have gained in reputation and their games have dominated download charts and topped grossing lists. In the year 2014 the combined Nordic turnover was over two billion euros, the number of employees was nearly 8,000 and number of studios over 700. At the moment Finland is the biggest game developing country in Scandinavia when it comes to number of studios and turnover, and on an equal footing with Sweden when it comes to the num b er of employees.

There are many reasons behind this success: digital distribution, early adoption of new business models, a high level of education. But one reason many do not know is that instead of only competing, Nordic countries cooperate in many ways. This cooperation started as early as 2005 and it was taken to a whole new level when the Pan Nordic cooperation organisation Nordic Game Institute (NGI) was established in 2012 in Reykjavik, Iceland. NGI is an amalgamation of Scandinavian game clusters. One of these clusters is the Finnish Neogames.

Neogames was established in 2003. It started as a local cluster in the Pirkanmaa area, but quite soon it was obvious that there was a need for a national cluster and the operations were scaled up. In 2012 Neogames was reorganised as an association. The Neogames association is a member-based non-profit game industry organisation with the mission to accelerate, coordinate, and support the development of the Finnish game cluster. Neogames offers a wide range of services to all key actors in the Finnish game industry, helping developers, industry bodies, game educators and researchers to meet common goals. Acting as a hub also includes forming partnerships and co-operating with all the relevant actors. Helping investors, international game companies and Publishers partner up with Finnish game Companies is one of Neogames’ missions.

By Neogames, published in SCAN Magazine issue 75 – April 2015 | Photos: Neogames

To find companies and organisations within the Scandinavian game industry, please visit our SEARCH – The Ultimate E-Resource for Scandinavian business