The turnover of the Finnish gaming industry has increased 71 times over 20 years — study
Over the last two decades, the turnover of Finland's gaming industry has significantly increased, reports Neogames in a recent report. According to their estimates, in 2024 the figure amounted to a near-record €2.85 billion.
Alan Wake 2
For comparison: in 2004, the turnover was only €40 million. However, the best year for Finnish game development so far remains 2022 — when it reached €3.2 billion.
How the turnover of the Finnish gaming industry changed from 2004 to 2024
Here are a few more figures from the Neogames report:
- at the end of last year, there were 270 gaming companies in Finland. This is a record;
- the number of people employed in the local industry rose to 4,300 by December 2024. Out of these, 3,800 worked in Finland itself, and the rest were in overseas branches of Finnish companies;
- in 2024, four companies had a turnover exceeding €100 million, the same number as in 2023. However, the number of companies with an annual turnover of over €1 million decreased from 45 to 37;
- in 2023-2024, Finnish companies received a total of €128 million in investments. This is significantly less than in 2021-2022, when they were able to attract €300 million;
- in 2023-2024, Finns released 120 new games. Among the notable new releases are Alan Wake 2, Cities: Skylines II, Pax Dei, and Squad Busters;
- in the last two years, 61% of Finnish teams were making games for mobile. The same percentage worked on PC games. Console games were developed by 38% of developers. The popularity of web games grew sharply — from 6.5% in 2021-2022 to 14% in 2023-2024. It should be noted: studios can simultaneously develop games for multiple platforms, so the total percentage exceeds 100;
- notably, young studios now prefer working with PC games (53%), with only 20% showing interest in mobile. However, 77% of mature Finnish companies are creating games specifically for mobile devices.