Baltic Explorers – Boosting games to new markets
06.10.2020Baltic Explorers is an international accelerator program launched in 2020. It is available for game studios and start-ups from Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia.
Participating in the program will provide the opportunity to develop the skills, businesses and games further to increase chances of success in front of international audiences at crucial trade shows of the industry: e.g. Game Developers Conference 2021, Tokyo Game Show and G-Star.
The game industry is growing
Since approx. 25 years the Finnish games industry is active and also rapidly growing, 600 companies are already a good number, but in 2019 Finnish games industry turnover by €2 billion. At the beginning of 2004 a drastic increase in the mobile games market, until 2007 the first bigger mobile games studios took shape. A huge turning point of the industry was the beginning of the App Store area, and by 2012 already many international investors invested in Finnish gaming companies.
Not only the success of Angry Birds in 2009 or Clash of Clans in 2012 by Supercell are the primary driver of success, but the number of gaming studies is also continually growing, and not only in the Helsinki area.
Game Studios like Nitro Games or Kukouri Mobile Entertainment are already a merger player in the industry. Plus they are not located in Helsinki – they are local gaming companies in Kotka.
In the project, one main factor is to support and emphasize the growth of gaming studios in the Kymenlaakso area as well as the are of our other project partner LAB in Lahti. There is no need to move to Helsinki to expect growth, game studios in our area will profit from projects and support of ours, as they will get the full support by specialists.
During the pandemic COVID-19, in particular, the gaming industry was growing by 20% in the first two quarters of the year. The Finnish gaming industry is having a big piece of the pie in that direction.
At some point, mobile games can be a bit controversial, topics as cyber-sick are coming more and more to the ground. It is still alarming, how many hours children are spending on their mobile devices, but also adults are affected by that virus. It is a point we should pay attention, but there are also plenty of educational games on the market which are supporting kids in their mental development.
The new digital age and generation are now growing drastically, and we need to be aware of it and to be ready for all the new existing solutions on the market. Not only education will change; the whole industry will change and drive into the digital area; this will open the market for new opportunities and ventures. It will be interesting to follow the next two quarters of the year and see the growth of 2020 by the end of the year.
Baltic Explorers will focus on the growth of gaming studios in the Kymenlaakso area and beyond – stay tuned.
Sources:
https://www.reuters.com/article/esports-business-gaming-revenues-idUSFLM8jkJMl
