FIRST WEEKS (1-2/2019) IN THE FINNISH GAME INDUSTRY

Play Finland’s Weekly Newsletter
In this report we will combine  weeks 52/2018-1&2/2019 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:

• 25-27th January Global Game Jam  if you want to run a site, apply now!
• 29th January Games First London 2019
• 29th January IGDA Helsinki Gathering 
• 2nd Feb. Games Helsinki 2019
• 15th-17th February Quantum Game Jam in Helsinki on the with quantum physicists and some quantum technologies. Apply now
• 22-24th May Nordic Game Conference / Malmö
  • 50% off on conference passes to Nordic Game 2019, 22-24 May in Malmö, Sweden. This counts until midnight, January 3rd.
  • CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO THIS GROUP: the first 10 to select this group in the menu and enter this code, NG19PF5MLGG4, will get the Dinner Experience for free!

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

• Futureplay Games has several open positions
• Koukoi Games is looking for Producer/Director to join our team – see more Note! Even if your skillset is not the right match for our requirements, we still want to know about all talents, so please drop us a line! We are able to adapt our ways of working and therefore this position could suit for game designers, product managers, art directors and senior programmers, and so on.
• Looking for job: Arto Koivisto, a seasoned senior audio designer & composer with a relaxed and positive can-do attitude & team-oriented mindset, and now looking for freelance opportunities or a full time job making your games, apps or marketing trailers sound AWESOME! He has his own tools and a extensive skillset covering just about anything ‘audio’ including experience such as +6 years of working on all facets of audio for mobile games (incl. beginner level C# scripting in Unity3D), +15 years of audio engineering, +17 years building electronic instruments and +25 years of writing electronic music. Anyone into demoscene might better know my talent from groups such as mfx and Kewlers. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with elbowski [at] gmail.com.Showreel & game music available on request 
• 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
• Are you looking for game industry professionals to join your team? Oleg Paliy & José Jácome
  are inviting you to join our recruitment event in Kiev in December. You will have a chance to pre-screen the candidates in advance and conduct f2f interviews on the spot. You can also join our #PlayFinland stand at the biggest local #gamedev conference Games Gathering, this way you can combine recruitment and business meetings.
• 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!

Announcements;

• Seriously had 65% growth year on year with Best Fiends and EUR 60 million turnover.
  • Best Fiends toi jo 60 miljoonan euron liikevaihdon – Seriouslylle
• Finnish Noita is nominated for the IGF grand prize 
• Dized became the world’s third most crowdfunded app
• China’s big games freeze comes to an end after nine months

 
Other News;

• Tammi , Colossal Order, Fingersoft and Nitro Games are giving what is work at the game industry children books for free to schools –  Tammi ja kolme suomalaista peliyhtiötä lahjoittavat koululaisille 900 tietokirjailija Elina Lappalaisen pelimaailmaan sukeltavaa Nyt pelittää!Mukana hyväntekeväisyyskampanjassa ovat tamperelainen Colossal Order, oululainen Fingersoft ja Kotkassa toimiva Nitro Games.
• Games Factory Farm League started this week with 9 amazing teams and 30 cool sushi-popping mentors
• Games Factory Farm League started this week with 9 amazing teams and 30 cool sushi-popping mentors
• Critical Charm release A Giant Problem! in early access in February
• Supercell brings in nearly $1.4 billion in 2018Brawl Stars’ debut alone earned $46 million from its launch in latter half of December
• Only in Finnish; Tietokonepelien osuus tekijänoikeusalojen rahavirroista arvioitiin 2,4 miljardiksi euroksi
• Master’s Programme in New Media – Game Design and Production (Application DL is today)
• If you’re an independent developer, make sure to submit your game for the international #IndiePrize scholarship program BEFORE MARCH 20 and showcase your game along with the world’s best #indiegames at #CasualConnect Europe 2019 at QE II Centre, London! The scholarship includes two free all-access passes to the conference, a guaranteed spot in the showcase, and free accommodation for two developers during the conference at the indie hostel with other indie developers, however, the number of beds in the hostel is limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. APPLY NOW
• Sebastian Laitila is looking for for new games to review on a media site portal, which has been soft launched a few days ago. You can contact at the address sebastian (at) errori.net
• Speaker Spotlight: MiTale CEO Natasha Trygg on experimenting with design and not sticking with what’s safe
• Kolibri Studios is working on with Tiny Bots
• Rival Games released new Alien: Blackout Trailer
• Tässäkö onnistunein yritystuki – pelialaa tuetaan runsaalla 10 miljoonalla vuodessa
• Kajaanilainen peliyritys Critical Force irtisanoi 11 työntekijää – pelialalla menee Kainuussa kuitenkin suhteellisen hyvin
• Lucrative public tender for game development companies from Veikkaus – total frame agreement value 5.7 million euro. –  Hankintailmoitus: Veikkaus Oy : Puitejärjestely pelikehityskumppanien hankkimiseksi Tarjoukset 25.01.2019 klo 12.00 mennessä

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.