A few days ago, foreign media Pocketgamer.biz interviewed Finland Finland game industry personnel on the challenges that the game industry is facing and the slogan of "survive until 2025".

Finland was once the capital of mobile game startups, giving birth to star studios such as Rovio and Supercell. There are economic challenges, but there are still new studios on the rise. Supercell's resurgence could lead to a recovery in Finland's gaming industry, which is looking to grow across platforms.

The following is a translation of the gyro, slightly abridged

About a decade ago, Helsinki, Finland, was the world's mobile gaming startup capital. Finland has a long history of mobile gaming, including Nokia, Digital Chocolate, and Angry Birds developer Rovio. With mobile gaming revenues skyrocketing and investment in Finland becoming more abundant, Clash of Clans developer Supercell was born in this context.

Some studios have failed, such as Supernauts' developer Grand Cru, who hasn't been able to keep up after receiving more than $16 million in funding. Some have been successful, including companies like Fingersoft, Small Giant Games, and Seriously. Publishers around the world are also trying to tap into Finland's potential by opening local offices, such as Gameloft, SciPlay, Zynga, EA, etc.

01

Finland's former glory

While Finland's stardom as a startup and mobile gaming capital has faded and been overtaken by countries like Turkey, Finland remains home to many star studios, including Rovio, Supercell, Metacore, Remedy Entertainment, Small Giant Games, and Frogmind (now HypeHype).

In recent years, there's also Kitka Games, the small Finland team that developed the global hit Stumble Guys. It was later acquired by Scopely. The team is currently working on a new game, Battle Guys.

In addition, there are Futureplay, Critical Force Entertainment, Nitro Games, MotioVolt Games, Sulake, Supremacy Games, and many more.

However, some of Supercell's projects are past their prime. Over the years, Supercell's revenue has gradually decreased, which has led to a revamp of the company's structure and well-known company culture. However, with the explosion of Brawl Stars and the launch of Burst Squad (although BlastSquad has had a relatively slow start so far), 2024 could be the year of the company's resurgence.

At the same time, Supercell-backed studio Metacore appears to have peaked in its growth in Manor Hop, and Small Giant Games' Empires & Puzzles, while still successful, has fallen from its previous highs.

Finland's top companies have also experienced major acquisitions: Tencent owns Supercell, Sega acquires Rovio, Netflix acquires Next Games, Playtika acquires Redecor developer Reworks and Best Fiends maker Seriously. Playtika later shut down the latter, even though Best Fiends is a game that earns more than $100 million a year. The subsequent transfer of development to Playtika's headquarters in Israel was also a pain point for developers in Finland.

Best Fiends is also a match-3 game

According to a recent report from the Finland Game Industry Association (Neogames), the Finland gaming industry generated €3.2 billion in revenue in 2022. At the same time, the number of studios with annual revenues of more than 100 million euros has increased to five. By the end of 2022, there were 45 studios with an annual turnover of more than 1 million euros.

What we're seeing now may be the rise of the next wave of startups, which are usually heavily backed by Supercell. Over the past few years, Supercell has invested in European studios such as Metacore, HypeHype, Phantom Gamelabs, and Shipyard Games.

02

"Striving to survive until 2025"

The Finland gaming industry is facing the same challenges as other industries: a tough economic climate, a challenging investment climate, and a mobile market hurt by Apple's privacy protections.

Despite past successes, many game studios in Finland, with the exception of the giants, are in survival mode of "trying to survive until 2025".

Sonja Ängeslevä, CEO of Phantom Gamelabs, said many studios were struggling due to regulatory changes last year.

Phantom Gamelabs has received funding from Supercell and is currently working on a shooter social mobile game

This means that studios are now choosing to work more with distributors, such as their contracts with Netflix, or different partnerships that are not necessarily their core focus, but that allow them to get back on their feet. This isn't a bad thing, it just slows down original concepts, content, and ideas, as studios have to prioritize the products they work with publishers.

Jussi Immonen, COO of Nitro Games, believes that the start-up environment is relatively quiet now, as there has been very little investment in the past few years.

As mentioned above, Nitro Games not only develops original products, but also collaborates with publishers

Christopher Hamilton, a member of the organizing committee of the IGDA in Finland, concluded: Everyone is in survival mode, and Europe and Finland are lagging behind United States in terms of funding, etc. And Finland has a more conservative government, and it is unlikely that it will not be in a hurry to fund the industry.

Some developers have spoken of the changing culture of the games industry in Finland. Some argue that while there are regular industry gatherings in Helsinki, there is not as much freedom to share experiences as in the past.

Not everyone agrees, though.

In fact, Finland remains one of the most open and cooperative countries for the gaming industry. Finland is home to the world's largest IGDA (the world's largest non-profit game developers association) chapter, which supports developers in community events, including bus services for gatherings in cities across the country.

Neogames' 2022 report shows that there are 232 active gaming companies in the country

Hamilton said: The Finland gaming industry, as a whole, realizes that in order to succeed, it is not necessary to compete in the Finland market, but to succeed in the global market. So Finland's game companies realized they needed to share information, and by collectively sharing all the failures and successes, they could rise and handle things in a very local Finland way.

"I think it's this open-sharing attitude that sets the stage for everything that your community here sees."

03

Investment has decreased, and support has declined

Recent elections in Finland have also had an impact on the · gaming industry. Local gaming investment has dried up, and new immigration laws have added barriers to attracting international talent.

One of the Government's proposals is that migrants must leave Finland if they cannot find a job within three to six months. This is a problem for a country that is constantly competing for top talent.

According to Neogames, about 30% of game developers in Finland are foreigners

Recently, Neogames issued a joint statement with the Finland Chamber of Commerce, the Confederation of Finland Industry (EK), the Service Employers' Organization (Palta) and the Finland start-up community calling for policy changes.

"We are asking for a longer grace period instead of the three or six months as proposed," the statement read. Industry cycles or holidays can significantly increase the time it takes to find a new job. In addition, people's family situations vary, and no one should be put in an unreasonable situation because the grace period is too short. We must ensure that Finland does not lose talent and its reputation as an attractive place to work. “

The Finland government said: "Most unemployed immigrants have found work in the Finland labour market within a reasonable time or have left Finland without state intervention".

Natasha Skult, CEO of MiTale, said the government used to give a lot of support to Finland's gaming industry, but that support has since decreased.

"We hope that will change," she said, adding: "The gaming industry is bringing in more tax revenue than forestry, so the government should be aware of that and help the new Supercell, the new Remedy, the new team really go out because it's not going to happen overnight." ”

"It's with such a complete community and support that these companies can grow so successfully. The Government of Finland should therefore give more support than before. But what we're seeing is a decrease in support."

Although it is clear that the Finland government is less and less supportive of the gaming industry, the Finland gaming community is still a community that supports each other. It is worth mentioning that Supercell is investing heavily in game studios in Finland and throughout Europe.

Speaking on the Visionaries Unplugged podcast, Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen said, "I'm passionate about entrepreneurship across Europe, and I think it's very important for our region. I think the experience of European entrepreneurs in terms of capital has played a crucial role. I could almost say that it's our responsibility to invest in the next wave of entrepreneurs. Actually, the good news is that I think that's happening everywhere. “

Studios in which Supercell has invested

He added: "If all the people in the European industry come together and help each other, we can create a more valuable company with a real European value of 100 billion dollars." “

04

Find a new way out

Some developers have noticed a trend of expanding from mobile phones to PCs. This is not to say that the Finland gaming industry is moving away from mobile platforms, with recent new titles such as Burst Squad, HypeHype and Riftbusters being developed for mobile platforms, but companies are feeling the challenges of the mobile gaming market.

Supercell has opened a studio in North America and is exploring cross-platform play. Meanwhile, Timo Rahkonen, Rovio's VP of Strategy & Investor Relations, previously revealed plans to take Angry Birds out of mobile in the future, following Sega's completion of its acquisition of Rovio last year.

Supercell previously announced that Clash Royale and Clash of Clans will be available on PC

"We've always been a mobile-centric development ecosystem," says Jussi Immonen. Now, we're seeing more and more gaming startups start looking at other platforms as well. We are seeing more and more companies focusing on the PC platform. The barrier to entry for mobile platforms is relatively high, so the barrier to entry for building a profitable business on mobile games is also high, and it is not easy to achieve small and medium-sized success. “

Finland is like a mirror of the mobile gaming industry: it has matured and is battling a post-boom recession, Apple's privacy turmoil, and broader economic factors.

With the support of successful predecessors who helped Finland develop into a gaming powerhouse, emerging start-ups are looking for a way out.

The fate of Finland's gaming industry is more or less related to Supercell. According to AppMagic, thanks to the launch of Brawl Stars and Blasting Squad, Supercell has risen once again to become the second-largest publisher in terms of global App Store and Google Play revenue.

If Supercell continues to grow, will other big players in Finland's gaming industry follow suit? Judging by the situation of the developers, we will find out in 2025. But one thing is for sure, despite all the challenges facing the Finland gaming industry, it has enough experience and talent to prepare for the industry's recovery.

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