WEEK (45/2019) IN THE FINNISH GAME INDUSTRY

Play Finland’s Weekly Newsletter
In this report we will combine weeks 45/2019 from the Finnish Game Industry.
News are gathered from the Play Finland group posts during the week. That is why we recommend you to post by yourself (however not flood) your Finnish Game Industry related news to the group. It also guarantees that your news will be visible in the weekly newsletter /news compilation. Play Finland is at the moment one of the main channels for sharing information inside the industry.

Events:

• November 13th UE4 Beginner’s Workshop – Build your own game! / Helsinki
• 12th Nov.  IGDA Helsinki November gathering w/ Helsingin Pöytäroolipelaajat
  Ravintola Maxine · Helsinki
• 14th – 17th of November, G-Star Global Gaming Exhibition in Busan / South Korea.
  • Business Finland will participate in the event with a focus on talent attraction. To find candidates in the Gaming sector with innovative skills and professional background, BF invites Finnish interested in the gaming industry or in business opportunities to join the #FinlandWorks booth or by having Business Finland represent, the open positions at the booth and connect the candidates with the companies. For further information and job postings, please contact Regina Ainla, Talent Boost Coordinator: regina.ainla@businessfinland.fi +358 40 939154
• 15th November W  Games Conference 2019
  • Speakers;
    • Sophie VO
    • Gabriele Aimone
    • Ekaterina Dolgova from Redhill Games
    • Nikolina Zidar talking about her work in making most unique game studio in Finland!
    • Anna Salomaa from Resistance Games
    • Rebekka Muntola  from PlayStack
    •  Anu from Housemarque
    •  Osama Dorias from WB Games Montreal
    • Jani Kahrama from Secret Exit!
    • Karoliina Korppoo from 10th Muse
    • Regina Lindström will host “Lego Serious Play workshop: Impostor Syndrome”
• 16-17th November Aalto university agreed to hosts Theme Park. A digital art rally!
• 18th November Workshop: How to Become a Concept Artist? / Pori
• 19th November; Press Start invites 1,000 game developers to the Cable Factory  for a free kick-off to the Slush Week.
  • No middleware, no service providers – just games. Attendance is free and by application only. Apply here slush.org/press-start
  • Learn from industry veterans, connect with peers, get a glimpse into some up-and-coming games and meet a pool of investors. And let’s not forget the after-party.
  • The first speakers and open applications to the event will be released in August.
  • applications opened up for live demo showcase at Press Start. This time you can forget your presentations – it’s all about playing live!
  • if you are coming to Press Start – Kickoff Event by Slush and want to share it, attend to the fb event on the link.
• November 20th Game-based UX & Cognitive Science Masterclass / Helsinki
• November 22th Games UR/UX Finland Meet Up / Helsinki
• November 25th – December 3rd; Gamification Group is organizing a workshop series about wearables, games and extended reality.
  • Application Form: https://bit.ly/wearxrworkshop
    Application Deadline: 20.11.2019
    Notification of Acceptance: 21.11.2019
• 16th Dec. IGDA Lahti Christmas Gathering / Lahti
• 14th April Hyper UA Gamevasion / Copenhagen

See also The Game Industry Events calendar: http://www.neogames.fi/en/events/eventcalendar
Neogames is creating a tool for the city of Helsinki summarising all key games industry related events in Helsinki
 
Open jobs & Recruitment

• Get your self matched in Game Factory Talents. Find your place in the Finnish Games Industry
  • Games Factory Talents have introduced a new platform to make your talent visible for the game studios. They are building a community of developers to showcase, making it easier for the game studios to find the talent they need.
  • “Instead of building a platform only for job seeking game industry professionals, we wanted a platform where the game studios could come and meet the talent even before they start the long and expensive process of advertising an open job position. Our Talent Board features industry professionals from all levels of experience to most of the various positions studios might be looking to fill”, explains Kim Bäckroos, CEO of the newly formed Games Factory Talents.
  • New talent is being added to the Talent Board constantly, and Games Factory Talents are inviting all industry professionals and game studios to take part. Head over Games Factory Talents to look at the talent and job positions available and make yourself visible for the hiring studios.Follow Games Factory Talents on social media for the latest news and information on any upcoming talent acquisition events.
  • https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamesfactorytalents
  • https://www.instagram.com/gamesfactorytalents
• Jobs in Games: Rovio’s Heini Kaihu on how to get a job as head of studio.
  • if people are interested in taking part in ‘Jobs in Games’ series feel free to get in touch with Craig Chapple!
• Take a look at https://thehub.fi/jobs for the current list of all jobs available in the Finnish Game Industry!

 
Announcements;

• Former Rovio EVP Wilhelm Taht appointed to head GSN Games’ Bingo studios
• Supercell co-founders were the best taxpayers of all times in Finland / Supercellin perustajat nousivat kaikkien aikojen parhaiksi veron­maksajiksi Suomessa
  • Supercell co-founders top Finland’s highest-earners list

Other News;

•  Unicorn Pirates Studio‘s first game Idle Cat Stars is now in soft launch!
• Chinese games regulator halves playtime for under 16s to 90 minutes a day
• Helsingin Sanomat julkaisi jutun NordicEdun Dreamcatcher-hyötypeliprojektista, jolla pyritään vähentämään leikkaukseen menevien lasten sairaala-ahdistusta ja pelkoja, jotta kokemus ei olisi niin rankka ja leikkauskin menisi sujuvammin. 🏥😴 Jutussa on myös pelillistämisprofessori Juho Hamarin ajatuksia pelillistämisestä ja sen kehityksestä. / Local newspaper released a story about NordicEdu mobile game with two Icelandic health-care professionals called Dreamcatcher. The game aims to make children who are about to undergo a surgery less anxious about the procedure. If they are less anxious, the whole experience will be less stressful and this can make the surgery go easier as well. Helsingin Sanomat interviewed the project team about the game and also asked Juho Hamari some insights about serious games and gamification. The article is in Finnish

This is the weekly summary of news from the Finnish game  industry. If you want to have your news on the list, post them on the Play Finland Facebook group. The summary will be posted every Friday afternoon. Check out previous week’s list.