How and why does the Finnish gaming industry attract investors?

The Finnish gaming industry has become one of the most attractive for investors among the Nordic countries. The Pocketgamer resource understands why.

The annual turnover of the gaming market in Finland increased from €87 million to €1 billion in five years, from 2009 to 2014. For comparison, in Sweden in 2014 it amounted to €725 million. Such growth could not fail to attract international investors. In the period 2011 to 2014, Finland received financial influences in the amount of $1.8 billion.

However, this does not mean that every aspiring Finnish indie developer receives millions of dollars from investors.

If you look at the situation closer, it becomes clear that the financial “relief” of the Finnish gaming industry is very uneven. According to a study conducted by Neogames, at the end of 2014 there were about 260 studios in the country. Of these, those whose annual turnover exceeds € 1 million – only 20.

In the same way, venture financing is distributed “unevenly”. The number of companies that received more than €0.5 million of investments in the period from 2011 to 2014 is only 17. Of these, 15 companies are “second-tier” startups. This means that the founders of these studios already had experience in the gaming industry.

All together, it gives the following picture: investors are interested in the Finnish gaming industry. However, they are- literally – looking for a “second Supercell”. And this is no different from the global picture as a whole. Those studios where game development veterans are at the head have much more chances to receive capital injections from the outside.

A source: http://www.pocketgamer.biz

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