The gaming industry has brought a large amount of tax Euros to Finland over the past ten years.
The Finnish gaming industry is expected to have a turnover of 3.2 billion euros in 2021. The industry made a profit of 900 million euros.
Neogames, an interest organization of the Finnish game industry, has told about this in its new report. According to the organization, the general picture of the Finnish gaming industry is “very positive when measured by all metrics”.
In 2022 also, the turnover is expected to be 3.2 billion, but the final result is not yet clear. Finland’s gaming industry is one of the largest in Europe and a major factor in mobile games.
– It is noteworthy that over the past 10 years, the Finnish gaming industry has generated a cumulative turnover of 23 billion Euros and has paid Finland more than 2.5 billion Euros in various taxes, commented Kupi Hiltunen, Director of NeoGames.
There are large and well-known game companies based in Finland, for example, Supercell, Rovio, Small Giant Games, Seriously, Remedy, Fingersoft and Housemark.
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According to the report, the Finnish gaming industry currently employs around 4,100 people, of whom 22% are women and 30% are foreigners. In a few years, the growth has been to more than 500 employees.
Despite the growth, one of the biggest problems in the coming years is the skill shortage. At least 500 additional employees are needed in the next few years. There is a shortage of specialists, especially in Finland, so specialists are sought after internationally.
The growth has also resulted in the emergence of new players in the industry. At the end of 2022, an estimated 232 Finnish game studios were in operation. Despite the increase in the number of game studios, fewer games are published.
The reason for this is the current trend, which can be seen especially in online games. Games are being updated for an even longer time, when we talk about the GaaS model (Games as a Service). Games become services that keep up with the times and change, for example Fortnite.
Finland is especially known for mobile game hits made by Rovio and Supercell. Mobile devices are actually the most popular development platform with 66 percent, but PCs follow close behind with 64 percent. According to Neogames, 59 percent of studios develop their games for at least two platforms.
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Newzoo said that by the summer of 2022 there will be 3.5 million players in Finland. Of these, 46% are women. Play on most mobile devices.
Among players, the largest age group is 21–35 years (33%), followed by 36–50 years (26%), 10–20 years (24%) and 51–65 years (17%).
