Newsletter 11/2009
Game industry – carpe diem
Mr. KooPee Hiltunen
Director, Neogames
Many things lie behind the strong international growth of the game sector. The most obvious of all is probably the demographic change in the consumer groups. Surveys show that about 80% of Finns under the age of 40 play digital games at least once a week. The trend is the same elsewhere. The second contributory factor is the new platforms, content and channels. For example, the launching of Nintendo Wii in 2006 the coming of Apple iPhone onto the market have made the world of playing more widespread. The third contributory factor is the proliferation of online playing and game distribution and the social playing made possible by them. The growth in the game sector is not, however, dependent simply on technological development; technology has also helped in developing games content.
All these changes that are taking place look very promising for the Finnish game industry, because they will transform the traditional marching order and break a value chain that is financially very unfair to independent game developers. At their best they will also favour innovative, technologically advanced small studios that operate flexibly. Such studios are to be found in Finland. The important question for the Finnish game sector is whether it will be able to seize the opportunity in the right way. Already there are signs that the traditional industry players in the sector have a strong desire to expand their repertoire towards social games. For the time being there is still room on the market, but the cold fact is that in business, as in poker, the one with the most cash most often takes the pot. There will not be too much time for thinking. The investment and expertise accumulated by the Finnish game industry in its history of some 15 years must now be played wisely and quickly
Additional investment and background support from the public and private sectors will be needed if only for developing training in the sector, financing companies’ own production, maintaining research and acquiring the necessary market know-how. This investment is already proceeding at a good pace in Finland. With a suitable mix of public and private finance the game industry can become a more significant export field. The opportunities are better than ever.
The author of this article is a director of Neogames, which is the Finnish national centre of game business, research and training operating within the company Hermia Oy. Neogames is a membership-based organization and it has various activities related to the development of the game industry.
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