According the latest report, the Finnish Game Industry employed 4,300 people at the end of 2024. Finnish game studios are optimistic about the future, and are seeking growth after couple of challenging years. Download the whole report here or visit www.playfinland.fi to read more.
Turnover was €2.85 billion at the end of 2024
The Finnish Game Industry experienced a decline in turnover, as in 2022 it was over €3 billion. Although there was a decline in the turnover, the Finnish Game Industry was highly profitable, with estimated operating results of around €800 million in 2023 and approximately €400 million in 2024.
The Finnish Game Industry still ranks among the largest game industries in Europe and is leading developer in mobile games.
Industry in need for more talented people
The Finnish Game Industry is also a significant and continuously growing employer. In 2024, the Finnish Game Industry employed over 4,300 people in Finland and abroad. This was an increase of 200 people from the end of 2022.
However, a shortage of skilled workers remains one of the industry’s most significant challenges. Game companies estimate a need for approximately 450 to 1,000 new employees over the next couple of years. The Finnish Game Industry also recruits from abroad, and over the last two years, the proportion of foreign workers in Finnish studios has increased significantly from 30% to around 35%. Foreigners are recruited almost exclusively as specialists, whose availability in Finland is low. In recent years, game companies have also organized their training programs aimed at those interested in working in the game industry.
Key facts of the Finnish Game Industry in 2024
Financial outlook of the Finnish Game Industry 2004-2024
The record number of studios
The Finnish Game Industry reached its record in number of the studios, with 270 studios at the end of 2024. At the end of 2022, Neogames estimated there were around 230 studios in Finland. Following the 2022 study, Neogames has continued updating its database, which means that some studios added during the 2023–2024 period may have been operating prior to 2023 but were only identified and included in the database after the previous study. Majority of the studios are located in the Capital Region, and the second biggest region is Central Finland with Tampere and Jyväskylä game industry hubs.
PC reached mobile in popularity among the developers
PC is now as popular a platform as mobile (both 61%). Mature companies seem to favor mobile over PC, and early-stage startups favor PC over mobile. In 2024, over 70% of new games were published to PC. Developing games to browser has also become more popular. Multi-platform game development is common in Finland, with 58% of interviewees mentioning they are developing games for more than one platform.
In 2023 and 2024, Finnish studios published 120 new commercial games. This was more than in 2021-2022, but still relatively small number compared to the number of studios. Studios focus more on further developing already published titles rather than bringing out entirely new games.
The Finnish Game Industry is innovating its way to the future
Hard times open new doors to the Finnish Game Industry. With traditional game market are mature and have become more saturated, the Finnish studios are actively looking for new alternative distribution channels enabled by in-game stores and cross-platform game engine support. Also AI solutions provide a promising future for development, distribution and discoverability. Using AI can bring a significant lead to studios investing in research and development.
– The Finnish Game Industry is one of the front runners in the world in many aspects. We believe that difficulties also bring us new opportunities. The industry is actively looking for new ways to find growth and have the competitive advantage in the changes, says Neogames’ director KooPee Hiltunen.
More information
Neogames Finland Association / KooPee Hiltunen / 040-5324176 / koopee@neogames.fi
