2017 was the year of maturation for the Finnish Game Industry. The listing of four Finnish gaming companies into the stock exchange was a major milestone for the industry. According to Neogames Finland Association, also the middle class of the Finnish gaming industry clearly strengthened in 2017, and the year was third consecutive year when the turnover of the industry surpassed €2 Billion.
The number of more than EUR 10 million turnover companies employing more than 50 people continued to grow. Also the number of people employed by the industry increased to almost 3000 employees.
Finland is one the three biggest game developer countries in Europe. However, in 2017 the total industry’s turnover fell slightly from 2016 EUR 2,5 Billion to EUR 2.36 billion.
The number of new game development studios and game titles remained at the previous year’s level. In 2017 around 15 new companies were founded and approximately 150 new games were released in Finland. A significant share of the new games were mobile games, but at the same time number of augmented and virtual reality games increased.
Despite the ever tightening worldwide competition, increased customer acquisition costs and the continued labour shortages, Finland’s gaming sector as a whole got stronger in 2017. All and all Finnish game industry is a vibrant, globally connected hub of game developers and the technologically creative brains with companies like Small Giant, Next Games, Rovio, Supercell, Remedy, Seriously and Fingersoft, all of them major European and global game studios.
A key factor for the future growth is strong public support for the industry. An equally important role is played by several educational institutions offering game programs and a secure and reliable business environment. The Finnish game industry as a whole is committed in keeping Finland the best place to develop games in the world also in the future.
The next full study on the state of the Finnish games industry will be published in the spring 2019.