Swedish Game Market: Overview
•Though its population is only about 10 million, Sweden is the third largest home for gaming companies in Europe
•Swedish game developers are well-known for developing high-quality games based on their highly skilled workers’ talents and advanced technologies
•Nowadays, innovative and fun games are being developed across a variety of platforms, including console, PC, mobile, and VR/AR
•Sweden is also one of the major job markets for gaming talent in Europe, not to mention it’s increasing its number of foreign employees
•The Swedish game industry possesses an active and highly profitable investment environment
•The main factor for the Swedish game industry’s growth would be its establishment of dynamic new developers
Swedish Game Market Size and Characteristics
•According to the annual report ‘Game Developer Index 2022’ by the Swedish trade association for video game companies Dataspelsbranschen, the total sales generated by the Swedish game industry increased to 5.8 billion euros (7.75 trillion KRW) in 2021, more than four times the 1.4 billion euros (1.87 trillion KRW) from 2017
•This kind of growth was possible due to their outstanding sales performance in overseas markets
•Some of the best-selling video games worldwide, such as Minecraft (2011), Candy Crush Saga (2012), and It Takes Two (2021), were created in Sweden
•After acquiring multiple overseas firms in recent years, Swedish gaming companies’ global market sales have increased even further
•Embracer Group, which is one of the pillars of the M&A phenomenon in the global gaming market, and other Swedish gaming companies, including Stillfront Group, Thunderful Group, and Enad Global 7, have all made acquisitions of overseas gaming companies
•The total sales generated by subsidiaries of Swedish gaming companies exponentially increased to 3.1 billion euros (4.15 trillion KRW) in 2021, a significant increase from 100 million euros (133.7 billion KRW) in 2017
•In 2021, a Swedish game company’s foreign sales surpassed 2.7 billion euros (3.62 trillion KRW) for the first time in history
•The number of Swedish gaming companies grew by 78% between 2017 and 2021, with 785 companies currently in business
•About half of the Swedish gaming companies are solo developers. In addition, 89% of the entire Swedish gaming companies, including solo developers, have fewer than ten employees
The Secret to the Success of the Swedish Game Industry
•Per Strömbäck, a spokesperson for the Swedish trade association for video game companies Dataspelsbranschen, pointed out Sweden’s social atmosphere, which is already familiar with gaming culture, as the secret to the country’s presence in the global gaming market beyond Europe
•In Sweden, the use of computers had already spread among its citizens by the 1980s thanks to its government’s support, including subsidies and tax incentives. As a result, more people were able to play computer games
•High-speed internet also played a major role in terms of accessing online games
•A nationwide broadband infrastructure was established early on through the active intervention of the Swedish government, and this has become an essential foundation for Sweden’s development as a country of gamers and game developers
•In a broader sense, Sweden has long been recognized as a business-friendly country
•According to the Global Competitiveness Index by the World Economic Forum, Sweden is ranked in the top 10 most competitive countries based on its stable state economy, high adoption rate for ICT, high innovation capacity, and business dynamism
•The boom of the Swedish game industry is due to its success in global markets. In 2021, the total watch time of Swedish game-related content on the streaming platform Twitch accounted for 6% of the platform’s entire watch time
•It is estimated that a quarter of the world’s population has played games created in Sweden
•Swedish gaming companies’ representative strategies to target overseas markets are to actively recruit highly skilled workers abroad to create games that can be successful in global markets and the distribution flow of their games, running from domestic markets to overseas markets
Top 10 Most Watched Swedish Games on Twitch
Top 10 Swedish Gaming Companies With Highest Annual Revenue Unit: 1M Euro / 1.33B KRW
Implications
•The stereotype surrounding the gaming market, which has traditionally been regarded as ‘male dominant,’ is already being shattered, as playing games has become a universal hobby among all demographic groups regardless of age or gender. Moreover, the expansion of game consumption markets has led to a reorganization of the industry’s structure
•The global game industry has originally been dominated by the U.S. and Japan, but that situation has now expanded to South Korea and China as well. Nowadays, even European countries have joined this competition
•Recently, Nordic countries have continuously been attempting to expand their gaming businesses and, amongst them,
•Sweden has played a significant role in developing the Nordic game industry
•The secret behind the Swedish game industry’s success appears to be a solution to the development of its domestic game industry
•The Korean game industry, which possesses competitive development technologies and is open-minded towards foreign cultures, also has accomplished significant historical achievements
•If the Korean game industry can take a further step in upgrading its strategy to expand overseas and establish a startup ecosystem with more diverse attempts, it would be possible to create games with long-lasting popularity and influence in the global game industry
