TagsWeekly News,
The week we had in the Finnish Game Industry is led by The Finnish Game Awards 2026, where Channel37’s robot adventure The Last Caretaker won Best Finnish Game of 2025, followed by Amistech Games’ My Winter Car in second place and Kimmo Factor’s Sektori in third. The gala also brought several other awards and recognitions: Cities: Skylines II by Colossal Order won the new Best IP Expansion of the Year category, Clash Royale by Supercell received Neogames Finland’s first Business Excellence Award, Kokoon Games was named Rookie of the Year, Sektori won Best Creative Achievement of the Year, and Valtteri “Wanda” Lahti received the Power Player of the Year lifetime achievement recognition. You can find all the winners and awards in the newsletter. Outside the gala lights, Returnal director Harry Krueger announced his new Finland-based studio Cosmic Division, Matias Myllyrinne founded Mainstay Games, and Bonobo Software’s role-playing game Taival continued its wonderfully Finnish one-euro Kickstarter campaign after reaching 10,000 Steam wishlists.
Stay updated on what’s happening in the Finnish game industry by following the Play Finland Facebook group, and help us stay informed by posting your Finnish game industry news there! Follow Neogames Finland also on LinkedIn.
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BIG NEWS!
- The Finnish game industry celebrated its best games.
- W Love Games Excellence Award 2025 for the best indie game of the year was presented to dice-driven role-playing game Paradigm Island by End-all Entertainment.
- IGDA Finland recognizing Joni Paasikivi as the IGDA Volunteer of the Year and The IGDA Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Emma Von Munthe Af Morgenstierne Vantaa.
- The winner of the Bit1 Student Game Competition 2026, with Dappal Interactive taking home the award for its unique tennis game My Tennis Apocalypse.
- Finnish Game Jam presented the Jampion of the Year Award to Noora Archer for her role as the lead organizer of the exceptional Spaceship Game Jam game development event.
- The entirely new award category for Best IP Expansion of the Year was won by Colossal Order’s city-building game Cities: Skylines II.
- The Rookie of the Year Award went to Kokoon Games.
- The Power Player of the Year lifetime achievement recognition in the games industry was awarded to Valtteri “Wanda” Lahti.
- The Finnish game industry organization Neogames Finland presented its own Business Excellence Award for the first time for Clash Royale by Supercell
- The Best Creative Achievement of the Year Award went to Sektori, a fast-paced techno shooter by Kimmo Factor.
- The Best Finnish Game of 2025 Award, was a closely contested race between three titles. Third place went to Sektori, the techno-shooter by Kimmo Factor. Second place was awarded to My Winter Car, the winter driving game from Amistech Games.
- The top prize and the title of Best Finnish Game of 2025 went to Channel37’s robot adventure The Last Caretaker.
- The awards ceremony streamed can be seen on YouTube
- Harry Krueger, director of 2021’s PS5 exclusive Returnal, has announced the formation of a new game studio based in Finland: Cosmic Division!
📣Neogames Dones & News
- Neogames Suvi Latva visited at Jyväskylä Game Track program
📰 Game Industry News, thoughts & discussions
-
Green Party MP Atte Harjanne calls for a national game institute to be established in Finland. (article in Finnish)
- Game Educators Network meetup in Oulu on 5 June 2026.
- GN! Exhibition 2026, 27th April – 22nd May 2026
- What are the sustainability challenges you face in game & engine design and development? Answer the survey by May 31st!
🎮News from and about Finnish Game Studios
- Matias Myllyrinne has founded a new studio, Mainstay Games and is happy to have your CV and get to know you before we need you.
- A Finnish studio Bonobo Software’s role-playing game Taival is raising funds on Kickstarter with a funding goal of just one euro, after gaining 10,000 Steam wishlists in ten days. (article in Finnish)
- The second game reveal from Catland stumbles drunkenly back into the Taphouse! That’s right, Taphouse VR (2017) will be updated to Taphouse (2026), featuring OpenXR support, support for the upcoming Steam Frame, 3 new taverns and much more.
- Small Team, Epic Scale: Building Oceanhorn 3
- Heroes Get High as Caretakers take to the skies in Update 04: Below Us
- Smash Harder Than Ever: Major Content Update for Wreckfest Available Now
- After 10 Years of Development, Space Haven Officially Launches into V1.0
- “Switch 2 Is A Great Platform To Work On” – Sektori Developer Kimmo Lahtinen On Bringing The Game To Switch 2, Working On Resogun For PS4, A Potential Vinyl Soundtrack And Much More
😍 NEW Finnish games released & soft launched
- Pelimies Remake – in Finnish and in English- now available on Mac App Store!
💰 Funding
- Supercell calls on companies to reach for potential partnerships on new website
📝 Jobs & Recruitment
- Check tips and links from Neogames webpage
👉 Upcoming Events
- 22nd May to 24th Finnish Folk Game Jam
- The registration for Helsinki
- The registration for Vaasa
- The registration for Jakobstad / Pietarsaari
- 27th April – 22nd May 2026 GN! Exhibition
- 26-29 May Nordic Game Conference
- 27th May TiLA! (Aalto University and the City of Espoo supporting creative professionals with affordable workspaces, community and services) House Party preview event in Otaniemi
- 4th June Games First event –Ticket application is open until March 19th 23:59 CET.
- 5th June Game Educators Network meetup in Oulu
- 5th June Way Forward Forum / Oulu
- 10th June Summer Days of Game Education
- 23rd June annual Aalto Games Alumni Day
- 19th October IGDA Finland Leadership Day
- 22-24th October W Love Games 2026
- 3.–4.11.2026. Game Research Days 2026, organised by the Finnish Society for Game Research, takes place at the University of Jyväskylä on
See also following calendars:
The Game Industry Events calendar (mostly relevant for Finnish Game industry)
Game Conference Guide Calendar (more international (powered by EGDF and Slovakian games association)
Game Industry Biz
This week’s roundup highlights news from the past week in the Finnish Game Industry. In the future, this bulletin is again posted every Friday afternoon. You can find past weekly roundups from Weekly roundup section.
News are gathered from various industry sources and the Play Finland group posts during the week. Post your Finnish Game Industry related news to the group to get a chance to be included in the weekly roundup!
Best Regards,
Neogames Finland