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This article is part of our Road to Helsinki series, where we put the spotlight on the Finnish and Nordic games industries ahead of Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki on October 1st and 2nd.
About 10 years ago, Finland, and its key games hub Helsinki, was once the mobile games start-up capital of the world. It has a strong mobile history, which includes Nokia, Digital Chocolate, and Angry Birds developer Rovio. The scene became flush with investment cash as mobile revenue rocketed, and born out of these early days came one of the country’s favorite sons, Clash of Clans developer Supercell.
Some studios flopped (Supernauts developer Grand Cru was never able to lift off after $16m-plus in funding). Some succeeded, including the likes of Fingersoft, Small Giant Games, and Seriously. Publishers around the world also tried to tap Finland’s magic by opening local offices (Gameloft, SciPlay, Zynga, EA).
Finest Finland
Though Finland’s star has somewhat faded as a start-up and mobile games capital, overtaken by countries like Turkey – which has spawned success stories like Peak Games, Gram Games, Dream Games, and Rollic – it’s still home to numerous star studios.
These include Rovio, Supercell, Metacore, Remedy Entertainment, Small Giant Games, and Frogmind (now HypeHype). Another star studio that’s emerged in recent years is Kitka Games, the small Finnish team that developed global blockbuster Stumble Guys, which was acquired by Scopely. The team is now working on a new title, Battle Guys.
And that’s not to mention Futureplay, Critical Force Entertainment, Nitro Games, MotioVolt Games, Sulake, Supremacy Games, and many more.
Some of Supercell’s largest studios have peaked, however. Supercell’s revenues faded over the years, which has seen the company make key changes to his structure and famous culture. It should be noted that 2024 could be a resurgent year for the company, however, with the rise of Brawl Stars and the launch of Squad Busters (which is off to a comparatively slow start so far).
Finland has seen major acquisitions of its top companies – Tencent owns Supercell, Sega acquired Rovio, Netflix bought Next Games, and Playtika purchased Redecor dev Reworks and Best Fiends creator Seriously. Playtika later closed the latter studio – despite building a $100m+ per year game in Best Fiends – moving development to its Israel HQ, a sore subject amongst local devs.
“Last year many studios really struggled due to changes of regulation.”
Sonja Ängeslevä, Phantom Gamelabs
The last report into Finland’s games industry from the country’s industry association Neogames showed that in 2022, the sector generated €3.2 billion. Meanwhile, the number of studios making more than €100 million annually grew to five. By the end of 2022, 45 studios had an annual turnover of more than €1 million. There’s been no official updated report since then.
We’re now seeing perhaps the next wave of start-ups emerging, often with strong backing from Supercell – which has pumped money into Metacore, HypeHype, Phantom Gamelabs, and Shipyard Games over the years. You can see many of the current games in development right now in Finland in our list here.
Survival mode
Earlier this year, PocketGamer.biz visited Helsinki and Turku, getting a lay of the land of the country’s games hub. The sector is facing the same challenges as the rest of the industry: a tough economic climate, a challenging investment environment, and a mobile market wounded by Apple’s privacy measures.
Despite past successes, many studios in the country’s games sector, outside of the giants, are in ‘survive to 2025’ mode.
“Last year many studios really struggled due to changes of regulation and whatnot,” says Phantom Gamelabs CEO Sonja Ängeslevä.
“Everybody is in survival mode for sure.”
Christopher Hamilton
Christopher Hamilton, who is on the Organising Committee for the upcoming Leadership Day by IGDA Finland, sums up: “Everybody is in survival mode for sure. Europe and Finland as well will lag behind the United States in terms of funding and this sort of stuff.
“And obviously we have a more conservative government in place that is less likely and less eager to be funding a lot of these initiatives.”
Changing culture?
Some developers spoke of a gradually changing culture in Finland’s games industry. Some suggested that while regular meetups take place – there is a regular breakfast meeting in Helsinki attended by executives and senior developers – experiences are not always as freely shared as they used to be.
In fact, Finland’s industry remains arguably one of the most open and collaborative. It’s home to the largest IGDA chapter in the world, which supports developers in attending community events – including running buses to gatherings in various cities across the country.
“Finland as a whole realized in order to be successful, it’s not about competing on the Finnish market, it’s about being successful on global markets,” says Hamilton.
Later this year, Helsinki will play host to Finnish Games Week from September 30th to October 4th, which includes Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki and the Big Screen Gaming Summit on October 1st and 2nd, Leadership Day by IGDA Finland on September 30th, and W Love Games on October 3rd and 4th.
Less investment, new rules
Recent elections in Finland have also had an impact – another sore topic for the country’s games industry. Helsinki’s games investment support has dried up, while new immigration laws for the country are raising barriers to attracting international talent.
“We must ensure that Finland does not lose its skilled workers or its reputation as an attractive place to work.”
Neogames, Joint Statement
Neogames recently released a joint statement with the Finland Chamber of Commerce, the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK), the Service Sector Employers (Palta), and the Finnish Startup Community demanding changes.
“We demand longer grace periods than the proposed three or six months,” read the statement. “The industry cycles or holiday seasons can significantly delay finding a new job. Additionally, people have different family situations, and no one should be put in an unreasonable position due to too short grace periods. We must ensure that Finland does not lose its skilled workers or its reputation as an attractive place to work.”
MiTale CEO Natasha Skult says there used to be more support from the government for Finland’s games industry, but that has since decreased.
“We are hoping that that will change,” she says, adding: “The games industry brings more tax money than forestry, and therefore the government should really acknowledge this and help new Supercell’s, new Remedy’s, new teams to actually get out there because this did not happen overnight.
“There was this whole community and support for these companies to grow into the successes they are. We want to see more of that, so they should be giving even more support than before. But instead we can see a lack of it.”
“I would almost say that it’s our responsibility to invest in the next wave of founders.”
Ilkka Paananen, Supercell
Despite an apparent increasing lack of government support, Finland’s games community is still a supportive one. Notably, Supercell’s CEO Ilkka Paananen continues to invest in the Finnish and wider European games sector.
“I feel very passionate about European entrepreneurship as a whole,” said Paananen on the Visionaries Unplugged podcast. “And I think it’s incredibly important for our part of the world.
“I think the European founders, their experience with capital, I think they play a crucial role in that. I would almost say that it’s our responsibility to invest in the next wave of founders. And actually the good news is that I think it’s happening all over.
Expanding from mobile
One trend that some developers have noted is a shift away from mobile to PC. That’s not to say Finland’s games industry is leaving the platform behind – some of the most exciting games recently, like Squad Busters, HypeHype, and Riftbusters, have been developed for mobile – but companies are feeling the heat from mobile’s challenging market.
Supercell itself opened a studio in North America to explore opportunities in games across any platform. Meanwhile, following Rovio’s acquisition by Sega, which completed in August 2023, the company’s Rovio VP of strategy and investor relations Timo Rahkonen previously teased to PocketGamer.biz that “the plan is to bring Angry Birds beyond mobile in the future”.
“We have always had this really mobile-centric developer ecosystem,” says Immonen.
“Now, we are seeing more and more game start-ups building their focus around other platforms as well. We are seeing more and more PC-focused companies.
Survive to ’25
Finland is like a mirror to the rest of the mobile games industry – it has reached maturity and is struggling with a post-pandemic industry decline, Apple’s privacy shakeup, and wider economic factors.
Emerging start-ups are looking for a way through, backed by the successful founders that have helped grow Finland into a games powerhouse. Its fate is perhaps linked to Supercell in many ways.
Supercell’s star is rising again, becoming the No. 2 revenue-generating publisher in the world for App Store and Google Play revenue, according to AppMagic, thanks to Brawl Stars’ resurgence and the launch of Squad Busters.
If Supercell continues to grow, will the rest of the Finnish industry, outside the big players, rise with it? Judging by developer sentiment, we’ll find out in 2025. But one thing is for sure, Finland has the history and talent to ride any industry resurgence, despite the challenges it faces.
Want to learn more about the Finnish and wider Nordic games industry? Head to Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki on October 1st and 2nd.
