How the Finnish games industry is more welcoming yet still advancing when it comes to diversity

• One of the shortlisted winners of Pocket Gamer Connects’ Aurora awards, Elina Arponen, shares insight on company culture, the role of founders, and evolving gender diversity in Finland’s games industry.

Inspiring women are everywhere, and the game sector is no exception. In celebration of those paving new business paths for girls, women and non-binary people in the games industry, we recently introduced Aurora. 

As part of Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki, we highlighted the women shortlisted for the Aurora Awards - based on nominations received by the industry itself - live on stage, giving recognition, visibility and honour to the vanguards impacting the Nordic games industry.

Following the event, we caught up with some of them to gain deeper insight into their work and visions. In this edition, we spoke to Elina Arponen, the co-founder and CEO of Quicksave Interactive.

Aurora will return to Pocket Gamer Connects London on January 19th to 20th, 2026.

PocketGamer.biz: In your work role, how do you promote a better environment for women and non-binary people in the games industry?

Elina Arponen: As the co-founder of the company, I have a lot of say on what kind of culture our company upholds. Generally, the culture is coming from the founders, whether it's spoken or only implicitly shown, it is still the model others see. The founder's work role is actually less important. 

It is important to keep an eye on how the culture develops as the company grows, though it is not a static thing, but is constantly evolving. 

What inspired you to pursue a career in games?

I was in high school in the early days of the internet. I really loved having conversations, playing games and making friends online. This new and existing virtual - but yet so real - world got me into studying computer science. I had always played games, and then it was a short distance into the industry after graduation.

In terms of gender equality, how has the industry evolved over the last five years?

In Finland, we have been fortunate that the industry has been very welcoming for everyone for a long time already. In terms of numbers, we have still advanced in having more females and diversity, and that is absolutely great. 

There have always been more challenges for women to feel welcome in certain gamer environments than in the actual creation of the games.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to women entering the games industry today?

It is a competitive and tough market to make a thriving business. However, your passion and insights will be valued and remembered, so hold on to those. 

Right now, the funding market is very tough for everyone, but somehow that also equalises the matter. It's not that much harder for women. Everyone just starting a games company should strive to manage without outside funding as much as possible.

What projects or achievements are you most proud of, and how do they reflect your vision for the industry?

I'm proud of many things I've been part of creating, like our first game at Tribe Studios that got a "Best Social Game" award and the fact that the company later got acquired. 

I'm proud of many of the games we've done at Quicksave, and most recently, I'm proud of the change and opportunities we are bringing to the market with our new "AI-assisted playable ads" technology. One of our interactive works at a music festival already got an award for "Best Creative Campaign". 

But somehow the best moments have been when somebody in the industry just tells me they appreciate the work I'm doing. That unsolicited peer acknowledgement is so golden. Let's keep that going around!

Check out more interviews with the shortlisted women and non-binary people in our Aurora series.