Finnish Game Market: Overview
•The Finnish game market is anticipated to see the largest growth among other Nordic nations.
•From Angry Birds to Clash of Clans, Finland has produced several mobile games that are popular around the globe. Their game market is expected to see an annual growth rate of 7.8% from 2022 to 2026.
•According to a survey of 300 major European game developers conducted by UBM Technology, a global business data firm, Finland took third place following Germany and the U.K., as the country that is most likely to produce exceptional video games over the next five years.
•A research survey on platform preference, conducted by Finnish gaming organization Play Finland from 2019-2022, indicates that mobile phones are the most preferred platform for gaming in Finland.
•66% of the players preferred to play games on mobile, while the usage rate of PC was 64%.
•41% of the Finnish game developers release their games on a single platform, and it was revealed that most of these developers develop their games for mobile.
Finnish Game Market: Current State
•According to Play Finland, the Finnish game market saw much higher preference for PC and console games in 2021-2022 compared to 2019-2020.
•While the preference for PC was only at 46% in 2019-2020, it greatly jumped to 64% in 2021-2022, taking the second place by a wide margin.
•The preference for console also increased to 29%-33% during the same timeframe, suggesting that the previously mobile-focused gaming platform market has now diversified into PC and consoles.
•The most popular game genre was action, followed by shooters and racing. Strategy, RPG and sports also had a strong presence.
•Helsinki Times reported that at least 55% of the total population of Finland frequently play video games while the average age for video game players increased to 19-35, indicating that the age demographics for video games have become more diverse.
•Koopee Hiltunen, the director of Neogames also revealed that the 59% of the Finnish game players aged between 21 and 50, whereas the number of players in their 10s and 20s were at 24%, which is comparatively lower than the others.
•According to Statista, a global research agency, the market size of the Finnish gaming industry in 2023 is 584.6 million dollars, estimated to reach 854.6 million dollars in 2027 with the average annual growth of 12.8%.
•Mobile games especially contributed to a large portion of the total revenue. The size of the Finnish mobile game market in 2023 was 311 million dollars, which accounted for 53.1% of the game market in total.
•About 69% of the Finnish game players made in-app purchases and expressed that they’re willing to spend their money on high-quality games.
Issues of the Finnish Game Market
•After the decline of Nokia, the global communication network company, the gaming industry has received a great amount of attention from Finland as a new profitable market.
•Government funded support is a main driving force behind the growth of Finnish gaming industry, which is led by prominent mobile game developers such as Rovio and Supercell.
•While the support system for the Finnish gaming industry was typically focused on research and development, nowadays the range of support extends to the industry as whole, such as technology development and marketing.
•The most prominent support systems for the Finnish gaming industry include Business Finland, DigiDemo and EU funding.
•Any companies registered in Finland can apply to receive financial aid from Business Finland at any time. Depending on the applicant company’s size, maturity, and financial stability, they either receive a business loan, or a subsidy such as funding, research and development funds and aid for startup companies.
•The companies that received financial aid can utilize their funds to research demand for a new market, develop products and services, and enter the global market.
•DigiDemo is a grant program first started in 2003 by the AVEK audiovisual center, which is a part of the Finnish copyright organization Kopiosto. It’s a financial aid program, created to support the development of new digital content including video games.
•A total of 1,195 applicants have received grants so far, with the total amount of granted fund being 11 million euros. The number of applicants continues to grow.
•Finland is also strengthening their digital and data productivity through economic recovery funds from EU, various financial grant programs, and innovation vouchers, supporting the sustainable growth of their gaming industry.
The Finnish Game Market Outlook
•Finland has shown a strong presence in mobile gaming since 2010, and the approximated number of Finnish gaming companies increased to 260 in 2014.
•According to Neogames, a Finnish gaming industry association, there are 232 game development studios in Finland as of 2022.
•The Finnish gaming industry is led by Helsinki and Espoo, located in the metropolitan area. About 92% of the total revenue come from these regions alone.
•Helsinki spares no expense to support their gaming industry, operating support programs for gaming startup companies and building infrastructure for the industry.
•The city also operates Helsinki XR Center, which provides workspaces, equipment rentals and mentoring programs for startups that are in early stages of VR and AR development.
•Netflix, who have recently entered the game market, also opened a new office in Helsinki, Finland. They acquired Next Games, Night School Studio and Boss Fight Entertainment for the mobile gaming market, and the acquisitions were made based on their proximity to the region.
•The Finnish gaming companies have grown over time with the support from their government, and the games they produce are well received across the globe.
•Recently, major gaming companies around the world began to actively acquire Finnish studios, a trend that accelerated after Tencent from China acquired Supercell in 2016.
•Zynga, an American social game company, acquired Small Giant Games in 2018. In 2021, Sony acquired Housemarque, Finland’s oldest gaming studio. Housemarque later released Returnal for a console platform and gained a lot of popularity among the players.
•In May 2023, Rovio, the Finnish game developer well known for the Angry Bird series was acquired for 706 million euros by SEGA Europe – a subsidiary of the Japanese company SEGA.
•SEGA stated that they acquired Rovio to gain a competitive edge in the rapidly changing global mobile gaming market, and that they plan to make their pre-existing games compatible with mobile, as well as developing their multi-platform ports.
•Although some voiced their concerns by suggesting that such acquisitions might be harmful to the unique creativity of Finnish game companies, Koopee Hiltunen emphasized that the acquisitions will bring positive outcomes to the Finnish gaming industry.
•He stated that these large acquisitions will bring more capital for the growth of the Finnish gaming industry, and that he hopes for more global acquisitions in the future.
