It has been a somewhat intensive SLUSH week, where foreigners have witnessed one the reasons why people in Finland are so strong and stubborn – maybe it is connected to very cruel weather. In addition to the weather update, this week’s highlights of The Finnish Game Industry are: Quicksave announcing QSApp, a revolutionary tool making WebGL more accessible through no-code editors. Peter Vesterbacka and Kustaa Valtonen investing in Snorble via their newly launched FinestLove VC; and a well-deserved recognition that New York Game Awards set Remedy Entertainment’s Sam Lake as Legend Award recipient.
BIG news for The Finnish Game Industry this week was Bit Odd securing a €17 million investment round. Another good news is Sega reporting a 22% rise in half-year games revenue, partly driven by Rovio sales. Huge congratulations to Tuomas Pirinen for the tremendous success of his Trench Crusade (tabletop wargame) Kickstarter project, which has already raised over 3.3 million dollars.
This week, we have good news from The Finnish Game Industry; Finnish tax data from year 2023 was published and Neogames estimates that the game industry has generated approximately 3.5 billion euros in tax revenue for the state from 2013 to 2023, including corporate, income, and capital gains taxes, as well as taxes from mergers and acquisitions. We’ve also seen several great business deals: Angry Birds has teamed up with Talking Tom for a cross-platform crossover, Redhill Games has partnered with Liquid Swords, and Supercell has fully acquired Space Ape, establishing a new studio in London. An eventful few weeks are starting with Games Now Week, followed by the IP in Games event and the IGDA Finland gathering on Tuesday.
This week’s news in the Finnish Game Industry has been a true roller coaster. On the bright side, China has approved Supercell’s Squad Busters, and Bitmagic has emerged as the standout winner of Game Changers 2025 for Generative AI & Agents. However, the darker side of the industry brings some unfortunate updates: Fingersoft has announced 14 layoffs, and Sony has made the decision to close down Finnish studio Neon Koi.
FakeFish's Barotrauma got a new update, Remedy's Alan Wake 2 got Ps5 Pro quality and performance upgrades, Plebeian Studio's Gladio Mori was the 4th most played demo in the world during the Steam Next Fest. Also Creative Europe opened the funding call for the video games.
This week, Finnish games are in full action: Remedy has fully revealed its new multiplayer game set in the Control universe, titled FBC: Firebreak. Noice, a next-gen streaming platform, launches its open beta with rewards for European creators, aiming to redefine the streaming landscape. Several Finnish games are also showcased at the Steam Next Fest, giving players the chance to experience demos of upcoming titles from The Finnish Game Industry.
As seen at Pocket Gamer Connects last week, the Finnish Game Industry proves its resilience and strength. Glitch Hammer won the top prize at PGC Helsinki’s Very Big Indie Pitch with Get Colossal! Tribo Games has shared a sneak peek of their upcoming Rumble Arcade, and Potion Tycoon from Snowhound Games launched on major PC platforms this week.
A fully packed week with Finnish Games Week—big hand to IGDA Finland, Pocket Gamer, and We Love Games for making it happen! Hats off to Future Run for closing a second investment round led by Supercell. Remedy Entertainment is pushing strongly towards self-publishing goals with a €15M loan from Tencent. On the sustainability front, Neogames continues to champion green values in SGA interviews. Last but not least, check out the open game industry education programs!
Good news again from the Finnish Game Industry! Social First has revealed Nexus Station, an upcoming cross-platform social sandbox MMO for Mobile and PC. Nitro Games is also making strides, expanding its development agreement with Digital Extremes to continue work on Warframe Mobile. Next week, the eagerly awaited Finnish Games Week begins with three key events: IGDA Leadership Day, Pocket Gamer Connects, and We Love Games, and you’ll also have a great opportunity to spot the Neogames team at all of these events.
It's been again an eventful week for the Finnish Game Industry. In Kajaani, the Northern Game Summit and the 'Game Industry in Turmoil' workshop where, lots of great thoughts and tricks were pinted and shared. Fingersoft brought exciting news by joining forces with Konami Digital Entertainment, bringing Super Bomberman R 2 into Hill Climb Racing 2. Supercell announced another major collaboration for Squad Busters with Hasbro's Transformers. Good news is that at the game industry still seems to have money to be invested as Supercell has invested in Redly Games, an independent Helsinki-based studio.