This week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry we celebrate Ilkka Paananen receiving a BAFTA Fellowship for his 25-year career in mobile games, and congratulate CSE Simulation on a successful investment round and junior developer Dappal for winning the Bit1 Finale 2026 with My Tennis Apocalypse. Regarding game funding, we have good news to share: the DigiDemo concept support call is open until 12 May, while studios preparing to raise funding can also apply to the Games Capital Summit at Nordic Game by 24 April. Developers looking for more power for their productions can access the LUMI supercomputer through a free six-month trial. On the studio side, new games keep coming and existing ones expand to new content and platforms; Fakefish’s Frostrail opens its playtest on 16 April, and the already released Barotrauma’s Home and Harbor expansion has received a new trailer. Bonus Stage reports Sledders surpassing an impressive one million mod downloads via mod.io. Control Resonant is now available to wishlist on Steam, and Virtual Hunter by VRKiwi has passed 10,000 wishlists on PlayStation VR2 ahead of launch. Supercell is bringing Boom Beach to PC.
This week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry starts with Neogames working together with Finnish game developers to build a shared Finland game industry brand as part of an assignment from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It is also the time when Remedy Entertainment published its Annual Reporting Package 2025, while BITT ODD released its eagerly awaited debut game Field Day into early access in Canada. WLoveGames has made sure that Finnish developers also have a strong opportunity to gain visibility again through the Finnish Games Week Steam presence (Oct 12–18), timed to maximise reach across two consecutive weeks. New games keep coming through; Gnomecraft is launching Snow War into Early Access on April 3, and Yarnhub’s Brass Rain has passed an impressive 100,000 wishlists, with a demo planned for June 6. The next generation of game developers is also coming forward as the Bit1 2026 finalists have been selected.
This week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry starts on a positive note as Finland is once again ranked the happiest country in the world for the ninth time, with reflections also explored in a podcast on why international talent chooses Finland, featuring Shuhei Watanabe and KooPee Hiltunen. Next week, Natasha Skult will defend her dissertation at the University of Turku on interactive storytelling and quantum computing, exploring new design practices with emerging technologies. On the articles from industry professionals, ambition and reality meet as Cities: Skylines 2 leadership reflects on overestimating engine capabilities, while Mikael Kasurinen discusses the high expectations for Control: Resonant, built with a €50m budget and a 200-person team. Looking ahead, Silver Legend Ltd has announced its debut title Grey Legend: Survivor for release in 2027. New Finnish releases continue with Turbo Dismount® 2 now fully launched on Steam and Orbital Overdrive by Horsefly Games also out. A quick reminder that Business Finland’s Creative Immersive Experiences programme and Neogames host a funding clinic on 25 March, and the joint application period to higher education closes on Tuesday.
This week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry starts with investment and strong industry milestones. Quicksave Interactive has secured new funding from HyperScope Ventures to develop Playables.ai, a platform enabling playable ads created through prompts. At the same time, Clash Royale celebrates its 10th anniversary and $4.9bn in player spending, with Supercell explaining the design changes behind the game’s recent resurgence. At GDC 2026, Remedy’s Control Resonant was showcased by Nvidia, demonstrating RTX features, DLSS 4.5 and path tracing technology. Browser gaming is also gaining momentum as Angry Birds Friends launches as a web browser title and Fingersoft discusses the technical choices behind the web version of Hill Climb Racing Lite. New Finnish releases continue as THYSIASTERY launches on Steam, Echoes of Myth arrives as a souls-inspired action roguelite by a Finnish solo developer, and Huippee Heroes releases its new mobile title Masterions on Google Play. On the event front, note that applications are open until 19 March for Supercell’s Games First event taking place on 4 June. What comes to the regulation; PEGI will expand its classification criteria from June 2026 to better address online interaction risks in games.
This week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry spans policy debates, industry events and strong studio momentum. Globally, Google plans to cut its Play Store commission from 30% to a new service fee model of 20% for in-app purchases and 10% for recurring subscriptions starting in 2026. Industry strategy shifts are also visible as Sony signals a return toward console exclusivity. Discussions closer to home continue around ecosystem support as the development of Oulu’s game industry sparked debate in Kaleva, with responses highlighting both current expertise and future potential.
The event calendar remains active with more events coming; the Over 7 Hills IT and games conference coming to Turku on 5 May and the Bit1 student game finale at Helsinki XR Center on 2 April. Talking about students; the Game Studies Thesis Competition 2026 approaches its March deadline. On the studio front, Arizona State University and Bitmagic pioneer AI-assisted game development education, Remedy continues its ambitious push with Control Resonant, Housemarque reveals new gameplay from Saros and begins hiring for its next project, and Antti Tiihonen unveils a new trailer for Reconfigure. New Finnish releases also keep coming as 10tons launches Dysplaced into Steam Early Access.
This week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry is packed with various topics and an exceptional wave of studio activity. The Story of Hill Climb Racing – 13 Years of Neckflips had its premiere screening in Oulu last Friday, where Neogames’ Elina Tyynelä was present in the front row. The documentary is now available to watch on YouTube. Business Finland’s Creative Immersive Experiences programme is organising a Funding Clinic in March. Game education remains active with the Summer Days of Game Education in June and new teams joining Game Catalyst. On the studio front, major updates arrive first as Cities: Skylines 2 and Gladio Mori roll out significant patches. New trailers follow for titles such as Frostrail, Second Stone: The Legend of the Hidden World, Drivers of the Apocalypse and Last Drop, alongside continued international recognition for Sektori. Looking ahead, more games are approaching release: THYSIASTERY by Dirga Games launches on Steam on 9 March 2026, and Part Time Monkey introduces its latest creation WARENA, coming to Steam. Steam Next Fest showcases a strong selection of Finnish demos, underlining the breadth of current development from tactical shooters to mythology-inspired adventures. New Finnish game releases continue as Nightsoil launches on Steam.
Lastly, an important note for job seekers: the Finland Game Talent Fair debuts in Helsinki on 23 April.
This week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry highlights both results and resilience. Neogames Finland has published the annual list of commercial games first released globally in 2025 by Finnish developers, while Director KooPee Hiltunen noted on LinkedIn that the industry’s more than €3.5 billion in tax revenue is already significant for a small country and could grow further with the right investments. At the European level, EGDF gathered its members to assess the state of the industry in 2026, with President Hendrik Lesser concluding that “we must fight forward – we are not survivors, we are fighters.” Back home, creativity was on full display as 259 new games were created across Finland during Finnish Game Jam 2026, all now publicly playable via the Global Game Jam platform. On the studio front, Hologram Monster has released Ritual Party into Steam Early Access.
This week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry is big: Supercell reported strong results, with operating profit before depreciation and amortisation rising six per cent to €932 million last year and contributing €220 million to the Finnish economy. Remedy Entertainment’s revenues continue to grow in 2025, reaching €59.5m, and the company has appointed former EA executive Jean-Charles Gaudechon as its new CEO. Neogames is compiling the annual list of commercial games first released globally in 2025 by Finnish developers and invites the community to help complete or correct it. On the studio front, The Last Care Taker gets excellent feedback and releases a trailer for The Final Frontier Update 2, 10tons released new videos of its upcoming title Dysplaced, Cornfox Brothers brings Oceanhorn 3: Legend of the Shadow Sea to Apple Arcade on 5 March, and a new gameplay trailer for Control Resonant showcases what may be Remedy’s most ambitious project to date. The event calendar remains active as Expa organises Internships & Employment Day 2026, LEADERBOARD 2.0 by Tampere Game Hub follows soon after, and the Nordic Game Conference 2026 calls for game executives. Students are reminded to apply for the Bit1 competition before 22 February. And finally, Finnish game jammers created 259 games across the country during Global Game Jam 2026 in just about 48 hours.
This week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry: The Finnish Game Museum celebrates its 9th anniversary on 7 February with a virtual event on Twitch. Neogames Finland’s Suvi Latva and KooPee Hiltunen offer a slightly more serious, but not purely depressive, look at the current state of the Finnish Game Industry at Pocket Gamer Biz. On the studio front, Nitro Games wraps up its project with Business Finland, receiving a final funding instalment of €340,000, while Bitmagic unveils an AI-created take on the classic Civilization formula and Cities: Skylines 2 sees its UI undergo an “extreme makeover” as Iceflake steps in as the new developer. Talking about making games; Finnish Game Jam, organised last weekend across Finland, once again showed the strength of the grassroots scene as jammers created 259 games during Global Game Jam 2026 in just about 48 hours. Looking forward; Road to Vostok enters Early Access on 7 April, and Ritual Party by Hologram Monster gets its Early Access release date for 17 February.
This week’s news from the Finnish Game Industry highlights how strong investments in education and coaching continue to support new game companies across the country. GameCity Kajaani keeps expanding its open learning offering with a growing library of free lectures from game design to legal, while the second Game Track programme is about to kick off in Jyväskylä, fuelling the pipeline from skills to entrepreneurship. On the game development front, there is once again good news as The Last Caretaker is selling well, with gross revenue of $7.6m less than two months from launch, and Jussi Loukianen has founded a new Finnish publishing company, Coyote Time Publishing. Finns have also made their voices heard in the regulatory discussion around games, with 59 368 people signing the “Stop destroying videogames” initiative. To wrap up the week on a high note, game development in its purest form is celebrated as Finnish Game Jam weekend begins as part of Global Game Jam, with more than 20 jam sites across Finland, including the National Gallery.