This week news about the Finnish Game Industry is... Colossal Order has confirmed that it is developing a new PC simulation game, with funding already in place and both self-publishing and a new publishing partnership under consideration. Pocket Worlds has acquired Sulake-developed Hotel Hideaway, while Iceflake Studios has released its first original Cities: Skylines II content wave since taking over development. Finnish games are also reaching notable commercial milestones: Brass Rain has passed 150,000 Steam wishlists and Dice of Kalma one million downloads across PC and mobile. One of the year’s major Finnish game launches is now just days away, with Remedy’s CONTROL Resonant releasing on 24 September. For companies with projects in development, AVEK’s DigiDemo application window closes on 21 September at 16:00.
This week news about the Finnish Game Industry is... led by Channel37’s 400,000 Early Access sales and Xbox roadmap for The Last Caretaker, MiTale’s move into transmedia publishing, and new developments from Housemarque and Remedy. Neogames is also keeping international talent firmly on the policy agenda: international specialists already make up 35% of The Finnish Game Industry workforce, and our 2027 parliamentary election objectives call for a more predictable path for international talent to stay and work in Finland. Also this week, European developer organisations are challenging Apple’s latest EU business terms, new funding opportunities are open, and September continues to keep everyone reasonably busy.
This week news about the Finnish Game Industry is about the winds of change, deals and new games moving forward. Housemarque co-founder Ilari Kuittinen is stepping away after 31 years, Supercell and Metacore have signed their acquisition deal, and Lasse Seppänen is leaving Supercell to start a new company in the UK. On the game side, Frostrail has entered Closed Beta, Add Inspiration has revealed Regret & Rewind, Next Games has helped bring Netflix Star: Daily Trivia to the Netflix TV app, and September releases are getting closer. Also this week: Epic funding opportunities (deadline: 5 September at 06:59 Helsinki time), new leadership training from Aalto EE, the upcoming India Market Introduction webinar and the usual autumn calendar slowly filling up.
This week news about the Finnish Game Industry is… led by a strong Finnish presence at gamescom, where Iceflake Studios revealed LEGO Skylines, Remedy showcased CONTROL Resonant and MiTale presented its work on quantum computing in commercial game development. Gamescom also offered a strong week of international visibility, meetings and business opportunities for many Finnish developers. Commission EVP Henna Virkkunen visited the Nordic All Stars booth, where discussions covered Nordic game development, upcoming regulation and the wider Nordic game development community, alongside demos from Simucube and Murska Digital and a discussion around Remedy Entertainment’s upcoming CONTROL Resonant. Elsewhere, Rovio is closing its Copenhagen studio following the cancellation of Sonic Blitz, while Frozenbyte has delayed Trine 6 to March 2027. Lohkare Games’ Last Drop, meanwhile, reached #1 on Steam’s Finnish top sellers chart after its Early Access launch. On the ecosystem side, The Finnish Game Industry’s new policy programme for 2027–2031 is out, KooPee Hiltunen has been re-elected to the EGDF board, EGDF has published its latest European industry insights, and new regional initiatives in Espoo and Pirkanmaa highlight continued efforts to strengthen the conditions for game industry growth.
This week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry… has a strong gamescom flavour, with Finnish companies and games appearing across several corners of Cologne next week. Neogames will be at the Nordic All Stars Booth on 26–28 August, together with 13 Finnish game developers, and we will also host drinks at the booth on Thursday at 17:00, sponsored by Housemarque. Remedy’s CONTROL Resonant, now gone gold, will be publicly playable for the first time at the Level Infinite booth, Second Stone by Skyward Entertainment and Sonorous – Deep Down Below by HOONAYA will be at the Indie Arena Booth, and Finnish companies will also be represented at the Creative Europe MEDIA stand. Beyond gamescom, Netflix is planning to close its Helsinki-based Moonloot Games studio, and Nitro Games reported its H1 2026 results alongside continued investment in new growth. On the release side, Lohkare Games’ Last Drop has launched into Steam Early Access. Finnish developers can also apply for €10,000 or €20,000 in AVEK DigiDemo funding until 21 September, and submissions are open for the Finnish Games Week Steam Event on 12–18 October, giving participating games a potential second consecutive week of Steam visibility following Next Fest.
This week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry starts with Remedy, which is maintaining its 2026 growth outlook despite a weaker Q2 as investments ramp up ahead of CONTROL Resonant’s September launch. There was another milestone for the studio, with Alan Wake 2 surpassing three million copies sold as Control sales continue to grow. This is the week when many in the game industry, including Neogames, are preparing for gamescom, where we will organise the Nordic All Stars booth in the Business Area in Hall 4.1, Stand D-033g from 26 to 28 August, bringing a sizeable group of Finnish companies to Cologne. The game industry is facing turbulent times, and in that context Neogames’ KooPee Hiltunen discussed the current state and outlook of The Finnish Game Industry on Ylen aamu. From a slightly longer-term perspective, PocketGamer.biz interviewed Suvi Latva about how building a game company in Finland has changed over the past two decades. On the release side, new games keep coming: Netflix Star Daily Trivia, developed by Next Games, a Netflix Game Studio, and Tech Lab Games, has been released, Parta Games’ Choppa: Rescue Rivals launched on Steam and Nintendo Switch, and Lohkare Games’ Last Drop enters Steam Early Access on 18 August.
This week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry starts with a notable investment, as Heikki Herlin’s investment company Mariatorp has acquired a 7% stake in Remedy Entertainment. Housemarque’s upcoming Saros also received a notable mention from Sony, which says the game is steadily expanding its player base. Next Games, a Netflix studio, released Netflix Minigolf last week, and Managing Director Saara Bergström spoke to What’s on Netflix about the game’s development and the studio’s work on Netflix’s cloud-based living-room games. Dirtnap by Part Time Monkey, Unstable Entity and Nitroyale is heading to Steam Early Access on 28 August, while Kitka Games has soft launched Brinko – Party Royale in Finland and India and Warena, developed by Part Time Monkey and published by Coyote Time Publishing, was released on Steam in July. The August event calendar starts next week with the IGDA Helsinki and IGDA Turku meetups on 11 August, followed later in the month by gamescom dev and gamescom in Cologne.
On the operational side, Nitro Games signed a development services agreement worth approximately €2.1 million for an unannounced mobile shooter and transferred the development and publishing of Autogun Heroes to Hyperkani. FakeFish’s frosty survival co-op shooter Frostrail is heading into closed beta on 31 August, and The Last Caretaker received the substantial New Horizons update. The summer also delivered a varied group of new Finnish releases: Antenna Games’ Ogre Chambers 2222, Runoi Games’ debut title Fortune Fragments, Coyote Time Publishing’s cyberpunk body-horror FPS Voltage High Society 1.0, and the Steam Early Access launches of Disc Golf Masters and Bonobo Software’s Taival. However, the summer news was not entirely cheerful, as Tribo Games announced that it is closing after four years. Further ahead, Pocket Gamer Connects Nordics returns to Helsinki on 20–21 October, with Neogames newsletter subscribers receiving 14% off tickets using the code PlayFinland14.
This summer’s recap from The Finnish Game Industry brought a colourful first look at what comes next, led by Trine 6: Together in Time in all its kaleidoscopic glory. The latest adventure from Frozenbyte will arrive on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC on 17 September. Rovio unveiled the first official trailer for The Angry Birds Movie 3, and CEO Alex Pelletier-Normand was appointed COO of SEGA Europe’s West Studios. The Finnish industry will soon head to gamescom in Cologne, where Neogames is once again organising the Nordic All Stars booth in the Business Area from 26 to 28 August.
On the operational side, Nitro Games signed a development services agreement worth approximately €2.1 million for an unannounced mobile shooter and transferred the development and publishing of Autogun Heroes to Hyperkani. FakeFish’s frosty survival co-op shooter Frostrail is heading into closed beta on 31 August, and The Last Caretaker received the substantial New Horizons update. The summer also delivered a varied group of new Finnish releases: Antenna Games’ Ogre Chambers 2222, Runoi Games’ debut title Fortune Fragments, Coyote Time Publishing’s cyberpunk body-horror FPS Voltage High Society 1.0, and the Steam Early Access launches of Disc Golf Masters and Bonobo Software’s Taival. However, the summer news was not entirely cheerful, as Tribo Games announced that it is closing after four years. Further ahead, Pocket Gamer Connects Nordics returns to Helsinki on 20–21 October, with Neogames newsletter subscribers receiving 14% off tickets using the code PlayFinland14.
This two week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry starts with Remedy, as Control Resonant launches on PS5 on 24 September and new CEO Jean-Charles Gaudechon discusses the next steps for Alan Wake and Control as franchises. Neogames has released its new report on game industry growth and entrepreneurship, Game Industry Entrepreneurship Paths from Start-up to Growth. Regarding to industry support, Jyväskylä is forming a shared strategy for games sector development. For game developers, there are several international opportunities to note: the W Love Games scholarship for gamescom dev and gamescom Cologne 2026, the Creative Europe MEDIA stand at gamescom with a 26 June deadline, and China Game Business Boost 2026 at China Joy, with the deadline today. On the studio side, SEGA and Rovio have appointed Toons Max as the official Angry Birds licensing agent in China, Rovio’s Anastasiya Kara discusses the shift from core-first to event-first mobile games. New releases include Tree Men Games’ HELI 100, Jestercraft’s Mining Grounds, MicroDose’s Marble Sort with Voodoo, and Pelimies Remake for iPhone and iPad. Also worth noting: Ari Pulkkinen was recognised to legendary status at the Nordic Game Awards, and the Way Forward Forum takes place in Oulu today.
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.