THIS WEEK (51/2018) IN THE FINNISH GAME INDUSTRY

Play Finland’s Weekly Newsletter
In this report we will combine week 51/2018 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:

25-27th January Global Game Jam if you want to run a site, apply now!
29th January Games First London 2019
- Early Bird Ticket Deadline is nowish!
22-24th May Nordic Game Conference / Malmö
- 50% off on conference passes to Nordic Game 2019, 22-24 May in Malmö, Sweden. This counts until midnight, January 3rd.
- CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO THIS GROUP: the first 10 to select this group in the menu and enter this code, NG19PF5MLGG4, will get the Dinner Experience for free!

See also The Game Industry Events calendar: http://www.neogames.fi/en/events/eventcalendar
Neogames is creating a tool for the city of Helsinki summarising all key games industry related events in Helsinki
Open jobs & Recruitment

Polka Dot looking for Unity developer to work on new project.
Iceflake Studios Oy is looking for more developers to join us in our biggest project yet. The game is something completely new on a field of management games, and it is not Ice Lakes 2 . The game is developed for PC and consoles.
Current and future Directors of the Arts, check out our open Marketing AD / Senior Graphic Designer -position at Dodreams Ltd.
Get your self matched in Game Factory Talents. Find your place in the Finnish Games Industry
- Games Factory Talents have introduced a new platform to make your talent visible for the game studios. They are building a community of developers to showcase, making it easier for the game studios to find the talent they need.
- “Instead of building a platform only for job seeking game industry professionals, we wanted a platform where the game studios could come and meet the talent even before they start the long and expensive process of advertising an open job position. Our Talent Board features industry professionals from all levels of experience to most of the various positions studios might be looking to fill”, explains Kim Bäckroos, CEO of the newly formed Games Factory Talents.
- New talent is being added to the Talent Board constantly, and Games Factory Talents are inviting all industry professionals and game studios to take part. Head over Games Factory Talents to look at the talent and job positions available and make yourself visible for the hiring studios.Follow Games Factory Talents on social media for the latest news and information on any upcoming talent acquisition events.
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamesfactorytalents
- https://www.instagram.com/gamesfactorytalents
Are you looking for game industry professionals to join your team? Oleg Paliy & José Jácome
are inviting you to join our recruitment event in Kiev in December. You will have a chance to pre-screen the candidates in advance and conduct f2f interviews on the spot. You can also join our #PlayFinland stand at the biggest local #gamedev conference Games Gathering, this way you can combine recruitment and business meetings.
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!

Announcements;

Zynga will buy 80% of Empires & Puzzles maker Small Giant Games for $560 million
- Suomalainen peliyhtiö myytiin jättikaupassa Zyngalle: Small Giant Gamesin arvo kaupassa 610 miljoonaa euroa
MacStories chose Grimvalor as Best New iOS Game of 2018 Runner Up and the ever so lovely r/iOSGaming Reddit community voted Grimvalor as none other than the Game of The Year! It’s a great place to go on releasing the game on other platforms next year.
The European Game Showcase is back in 2019 GDC. Use this unique opportunity to get your game showcased to press, publishers and partners. Now also accepting applications from Finland! Apply until 15th of January.
Finnish Game Jam is looking for sponsors for our main event of the 2019: #FGJ19. Sponsors are important in providing bare essentials of participation badges and swag to the various sites in Finland, creating sense of togetherness of Finnish jammers during the Global Game Jam. In return, our jammers and organizers are happy to see your logo on the swag and Gold sponsors get their videos shown on the kick-off hour of the event. It is a precious tradition, and our community needs your support, please spread the word!

Releases;

Discussion;

Kim Soares is asking for experiences in Microsoft Store
Aleksi Rantonen is asking for tips regarding publishing deal

Other News;

The first trailer for our RimWorld inspired spaceship colony sim Space Haven!
Remedy Entertainment released A new Control trailer via IGN.
Game Village is an indie projects showcase inside the GameDev Days Conference (https://gamedev.ee) where developers can present their latest games and get feedback from the experts and conference attendees. The best project will be selected during the show and be awarded by a special prize from the conference host organisations. Register Here.
Soulja Boy’s knock-off GameBoy console uses Parta Games game ‘Choppa’ in its official marketing materials without Parta’s permission
Olli Raudus is doing his thesis about the motives and challenges of foreign talent at the Finnish games industry. And needs your help! Please fill out this inquiry, it will take ONLY 5 minutes
London Venture Partners’ Jon Bellamy on the dos and don’ts of pitching your game to investors
(Only in Finnish) Tämä mies teki pelialalla hattutempun ja rikastui – nyt hän kertoo, miten pelaaminen on suuren muutoksen kynnyksellä: “Seuraava hitti on yhtä iso kuin Facebook”
See the very first teaser Cave Digger
#XmasJKL – The Game Industry and Business Seminar – Nov 14th, 2018 trailer video
Inside Supercell: All-access to the world’s most famous mobile games developer

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.