Play Finland’s Weekly Newsletter
In this report we will combine weeks 29&30 from the Finnish Game Industry and will be posted every Friday afternoon.
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.
Best Regards,
Neogames Finland
Events:
- 23-25th July Pocket Gamer LaunchPad
- 4-6thAugust GDC Organizers Plan New 3-Day GDC Summer Event For August
- 25-29 August; Gamescom / Cologne. Gamescom will under no circumstances take place on site in Cologne this year. Digital event will be organized. => Devcom
- Neogames is considering having virtual Play Finland expo booth in devcom digital 17.- 30.8.and at the moment we are looking for potential companies to join us as virtual exhibitors The price of virtual exhibitor company package is roughly €1000. If you want to have more info, please mail me: koopee@neogames.fi
- 29-30th September Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki (ONLINE)
- The discount code is: PlayFinland20
- 10th October Games Job Fair online
- 15th October Reboot Develop Blue / Croatia
- Over the years, Develop Blue has become one of the main annual conferences for European game developer communities. Therefore, EGDF and Neogames Finland ry. are happy to announce a 10% discount code for a STANDARD CONFERENCE PASS Please do not hesitate to contact the associations to receive yours.
- 16 October W Love Games conference / Helsinki
- TICKETS are available now and the link is first shared to those who have signed up for W Love Games newsletter. Sign up to a newsletter here.
- 6th of November #XmasJKL 2020 – The Finnish Game Industry Seminar / Jyväskylä
See also The Game Industry Events calendar: http://www.neogames.fi/en/events/eventcalendar
Webinars & Streams & Videos
Since all the game industry events have been postponed, cancelled or moved to online due to Corona virus epidemic, EGDF in co-operation with European country organizations has collected a list of online (and postponed) events.
Open jobs & Recruitment:
- Huawei AppGallery is looking for Content Editor (Games)
- 4Good Games is looking for a Senior Game Artist (2D).
-
BusinessFinland has launched a nationwide job board to advertise jobs for #English speakers in #Finland. Advertising the open positions in the portal is free of charge for the companies.
- If you are looking for talented games industry professionals in Finland for short or long term hire – please check out ever growing #GamesFactoryTalentBoard and please reach out for details! Also if you are #Talent working in games industry or willing to join the Finnish games industry feel free to apply! https://gamesfactorytalents.com
- Pocket hunt has launched their recruiting app for games people in Finland, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Benelux countries, Bangalore and Singapore.
- 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:
- Paradox Interactive Acquires Finland-based Iceflake Studios
- Traplight secures $9 million in funding as it launches Battle Legion worldwide
Releases:
- Platonic Partnership released a modern parlor game for adults called ‘Haastepeli’. The game is currently only available in Finnish, but English translation is on it’s way! Available for Android and iOS.
Discussion;
- Kim Soares asks if anyone have any recent data on how much players accept/decline push notifications in mobile games?
- There was a poll recently in a large international games industry group regarding WFH with the following results. Zsuzsa Jamesasks what is the verdict on this among Finnish game devs? WFH yay or nay?
Financial support;
- Zsuzsa James is sharing few interesting/recent funding & publishing options that she has pointed;“BIG NEWS ALERT: Coronavirus has dramatically changed the funding landscape for entrepreneurs, who need advice and funding from strategic sources more than ever. This is why a group of us gaming industry executives, angels and VCs came together to launch the Fast Forward Games initiative, with the hope to enable a faster and more efficient fundraising process for gaming start-ups. The idea behind ffwd.games is simple; entrepreneurs e-mail hello@ffwd.games information about their studios, fund-raising requirements and a pitch-deck. We will then provide: (a) Feedback on the pitch, offering advice on how best to present your funding proposition (and to whom), (b) Fast-track intros into major VCs, with whom we have a close relationship and a pre-agreed process to review your pitch, (c) Angel investments from the group, who will make a decision within 48 hours of a zoom call, all done remotely, without meeting in person. Tough times require bold action, and I am proud to be part of a group that came together so quickly to offer not just advice but concrete support & capital to amazing entrepreneurs. Ping Zsuzsa James directly, or e-mail: hello@ffwd.games.”
—-—-Epic Games just launched a publishing label with a 50/50 revshare deal with devs and directly from Epic—-Humble Bundle has two options for funding commercial games at Humble: 1) pure funding and light launch marketing, where the devs self-publish and 2) they fund+publish.
- You can now claim tax deductions for working at home during coronavirus
- Fast Forward Games (ffwd.games) is an initiative that brings together the top gaming CEOs, VCs and Angel Investors, offering their time, expertise, network and experience to accelerate the funding process for gaming start-ups. Due to COVID-19, the funding climate has changed, resulting a more challenging environment for many start-up studios looking to raise much-needed capital. We are here to help gaming entrepreneurs navigate these unprecedented times.
- Neogames has conducted the government support together in one page
Neogames is Reminding;
- “Apple has confirmed that it will require game developers to have a valid ISBN (publishing license number) by June 30, 2020 for all paid games or games that have in-app purchases (IAP) so they can be legally distributed via the China App Store. Games that do not register an ISBN with Apple before this date will be unable to launch or continue existing operations on the China App Store.”
- Singular Webinar: iOS 14 & IDFA changes: What you need to know
Other News:
- Tesla Force Xbox demo Demo available during ID@Xbox Summer Game Fest until July 27th
-
Resistance Games’ PC strategy game Company of Crime got its launch date announced with a brand new gameplay trailer. The game comes out 8th of August.
- Our friends at PocketGamer.biz are blasting off with #LaunchPad on July 23-25, with daily streams, giveaways and stacks of exclusive news. + it don’t cost a thing!
- New Music Video from Game Music Collective: Ash and Pikatchu in Suomenlinna!
- Legendar game music composer & sound designer Jarno Stakula Sarkula passed away on 15th July.
- Over 5000 games removed from China App Store during the past two weeks after Apple started implementing the ISBN requirement. More de-listings to come after end of July. Read MyGamez blog post on how this situation will impact the market and how game studios should approach China from now on.
- Summertime – great time to check out Youtube playlist about Awesome Finnish Games. 🎮 Good way to start a day during holiday and also when in (home) office. Neogames updates Awesome Finnish Games playlist on Youtube according the news shared on Play Finland group.