Play Finland’s Weekly Newsletter
In this report we will combine week 15/2020 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.
We (admins) occasionally publish industry related posts or links in Play Finland. But since there is so many things going on, we don´t even try to cover the whole field.
Best Regards,
Neogames Finland
Events:
- 14th April Hyper UA Gamevasion / Copenhagen
- 14.-15th April Bit1 / Helsinki
24th April Retro Game Jam 2020 / Turku-
24th April at 13.00 IGDA Finland Virtual Mentor Cafe
- 15th May BooBJam2020
- 26-29th May AWE – Augmented World Expo AWE USA 2020’s online event
- Become a member of AWE Nite Helsinki’s meetup group https://www.meetup.com/AWENiteHelsinki/ and get a special discount at just $99 (by April 1st)
27-29th May Nordic Game 2020 / Malmö, Sweden- 4-6thAugust GDC Organizers Plan New 3-Day GDC Summer Event For August
- 29-30th September Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
- 15th October Reboot Develop Blue / Croatia
- Over the years, Develop Blue has become one of the main annual conferences for European game developer communities. Therefore, EGDF and Neogames Finland ry. are happy to announce a 10% discount code for a STANDARD CONFERENCE PASS Please do not hesitate to contact the associations to receive yours.
- 16 October W Love Games conference / Helsinki
- Tickets sign-up starts in May and the link is first shared to those who have signed up for W Love Games newsletter. Sign up to a newsletter here.
- 6th of November #XmasJKL 2020 – The Finnish Game Industry Seminar / Jyväskylä
See also The Game Industry Events calendar: http://www.neogames.fi/en/events/eventcalendar
Webinars & Streams & Videos
Since all the game industry events have been postponed, cancelled or moved to online due to Corona virus epidemic, EGDF in co-operation with European country organizations has collected a list of online (and postponed) events.
- GDC 2020 Talks Are Now Available To Watch For Free On The GDC Vault!
- 4th April REE masterclass/workshop with the amazing Dedouze on the 4. April. Please follow the IGDA Twitch channel in preparation for the event.
Open jobs & Recruitment:
- Me-säätiö is starting a project where the goal is to fight social exclusion via GAMES. Looking for a developer and a designer to join the team!
-
BusinessFinland has launched a nationwide job board to advertise jobs for #English speakers in #Finland. Advertising the open positions in the portal is free of charge for the companies.
- Games Factory Talents launched new Games focused tech Talent board that helps Talents to land a Dream job at a Games Studio in Helsinki. Please check the positions and companies and APPLY
- Pocket hunt has launched their recruiting app for games people in Finland, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Benelux countries, Bangalore and Singapore.
- 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!
- Take a look at https://thehub.fi/jobs for the current list of all jobs available in the Finnish Game Industry!
Announcements:
- Pelifirma loistaa, kun muut kompuroivat – Remedyn kokonaistuotto on jo 235 prosenttia / Remedy has already 235% profit while many others are strugling (Article only in Finnish and for paying readers)
- Resistance Games announces Company of Crime, a turn-based tactical strategy game where players dive into the depths of London’s underworld during the Swinging 1960s. The Era’s most typical youthculture forms from rockers to rude boys, from lemond heads to mods and freaks are integral part of the game that takes place in London’s criminal past. Game will be released on summer 2020 at Steam.
Financial support;
- Laki yrittäjien oikeudesta työttömyysturvaan tulee voimaan 8.4.2020 / The Act on the Right of Entrepreneurs to Unemployment Security enters into force on 8 April 2020
- EGDF and Neogames Finland ry. are investigating how Covid-19 is affecting Game business and game companies in different European countries. Please fill this quick survey (by 31st of March) to give us better understanding in this matter. All the answers are confidential.
- Neogames has conducted the government support together in one page
- Business Finland lanseeraa kaksi uutta rahoituspalvelua lieventämään koronavirusepidemian aiheuttamia talousvaikutuksia. / Funding for SMEs and midcap companies whose business is affected by corona virus outbreak.
- ELY-keskusten rahoitus yrityksille koronaviruksen aiheuttamassa poikkeustilanteessa ELY tuki tarkoitettu alle 5 hengen yrityksille. Business Finland tuki tätä isommille, jos kuitenkin on jo haettu BF tukea ei hakemusta pidä peruuttaa. Molemmista tukea ei kuitenkaan voi hakea / ELY Centres’ funding for companies in the exceptional circumstances caused by the coronavirus. Note that if company is over 5 people you should apply from Business Finland and smaller from ELY. If company already applied from BF, then it is ok, do not cancel your application. However, should not apply from both BF & ELY.
- Hallitus julkisti 15 miljardin pelastuspaketin Suomen taloudelle, katso tallenne – Yle seuraa hetki hetkeltä talouden superpäivää / Government announces 15billion EUR support to secure Finnish economy.
- Digi & Game Center – Mesenaatti – Korona Aid Kampanja tulossa. / Digi & Game Center – Mesenaatti – Corona Aid campaing is coming.
Discussion;
-
Licia Prehn opens discussion about working from home at game industry
Other News:
- Pelien Suomi -tietokirjan joukkorahoituskampanjan minimitavoite lähestyy. Kyseessä on siis henkistä jatkoa vuonna 2014 julkaistulle Sinivalkoiselle pelikirjalla. Tuolloin tarina päättyi julkaisuvuoteen, joten nyt syynätään pelejä vuosilta 2014–2020.
- Mobile games just experienced its biggest week (on last week) for downloads ever
- Boreal Foundry has been creating a co-op souls-like for almost two years now, and going to Kickstarter on April 14th!
- Kayo Games; Learn how planes fly with this mobile Augmented Reality experience. Try on Facebook (Mobile) or on Instagram (Mobile)
- Kayo Games: Do you want to learn how to make 3D video games?
In this game development diaries, Kayo Games will share behind-the-scenes details on how they implement their games.
They will cover many topics such as 2D art creation, 3D modeling, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Programming. The first video is already out. - Zaibatsu Interactive JYP Jyväskylän pääyhteistyökumppaniksi esportsissa. / Zaibatsu Interactive becomes main partner to Jyväskylä e-sports
- Zsuzsa James will be speaking at the upcoming virtual Gamesbeat summit (April 28-29) and got a discount code to share for those planning on attending: GBS2020James
- KORONA AID: Digi & Game Center tarvitsee apuasi!
-
On April 22-30, 2020 the White Nights Conference team is launching the WN Hub – an online communication platform for game industry. One of the platform` features is the Developer Showcase.
👉This feature will help you to find partners for publishing, monetization, localization, to receive advices how to level up your game, to network with potential investors and get offers from platforms and engines. We expect 5000 attendees from 2000 companies.
👉You will be able to showcase your game and schedule meetings with people of your interest. The platform offers tools for that, such as direct/general chats and video calls.👉The best part is that participation is free for developers and you don’t need to leave your workplace. Games at different development stages are accepted.
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.