Opinion: Finland's new migration policy will be a "disaster" for the Finnish video game market
Top managers of Supercell and Rovio criticized the Finnish government’s program tightening migration policy. In their opinion, it will make the country much less attractive for foreign developers.
For reference: one of the updated rules makes a work-based residence permit invalid if an employee who has lost his job does not get a job in a new company in three months. Finland also reduced the quota for refugees from 1,050 to 500 people per year and limited social security for immigrants.
The CEO of Supercell Ilkka Paananen (Ilkka Paananen) believes that these rules will be a “disaster”. In his opinion, the country needs more talented specialists, but now they will not want to move to Finland.
Heini Kaihu, Head of Sustainability at Rovio, agrees with Paananen. She stated that she was deeply disappointed with the initiative of the authorities. A tightened migration policy, Kaihu argues, will seriously damage the country’s reputation, alienate highly qualified developers and put extra pressure on immigrants already in Finland.
According to analysts from Neogames, at the end of 2022, 30% of the employees of Finnish game studios were foreigners. Also note that 6 thousand Russians moved to Finland in 2022 — this is a record for at least 30 years.
