In the Hot Seat: Stefan Lampinen on why Chinese publishers are outpacing the West in European market intelligence

• Two decades and 20 countries in, Stefan Lampinen explains why "Europe" is a myth, business intelligence beats budget and partnership decides who wins.
• Ahead of his PGC Summit Shanghai talk, Stefan Lampinen breaks down the one Europe mistake nearly every studio makes.

Next up in our In the Hot Seat series is Stefan Lampinen.

Lampinen stands at a rare vantage point, with a career in gaming that has spanned over 20 years.

He founded EA Nordic, led Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division across 20 countries, shaped Nokia's global gaming strategy and sat on the advisory board at Mojang during Minecraft's early growth story. 

These days, he runs Game Advisor Ltd, a boutique strategic advisory firm working with founders, investors and industry leaders across PC, console, mobile and board games.

We sat down with him ahead of his talk on ‘How to Sell into Europe’ at PGC Summit Shanghai on July 29th.

In this episode, he highlights:

• Europe is not one market. Poland and Turkey have risen sharply up the priority list over the last decade and even within Germany, the city you choose for your HQ matters. "You can't just force your way into a market with money,” Lampinen says.

• Chinese publishers are mapping Europe more carefully than you might think. Lampinen was impressed by how deeply Tencent and NetEase have studied markets like Sweden. Business intelligence beats budget.

• Partnership is everything for Western games entering China - and the same logic applies in reverse.

His advice for anyone heading to PGC Summit Shanghai? "Go outside your comfort zone. Take care of your relationships."

You can hear directly from Lampinen on the 'How to Sell into Europe' session at PGC Summit Shanghai - get your tickets here.