Jim Stenman used to be a singer – a profession that 'put him through college'. Now he's a serial entrepreneur in the technology space, and his latest venture is Finnish development studio Rammin' Speed.

Yes, the name is curious, though a quick Google search reveals 'ramming speed' is supposedly the fastest a crew would speed towards other ships before destroying them in a collision.

The name makes sense. "At Rammin' Speed, we really push hard," Stenman tells us.

"We created our game studio really recently, two months ago actually. We want to create a long lasting games company in Turku, because in Helsinki, it's a bit crowded nowadays."

Creating character

So what's Rammin' Speed's company philosophy?

"If you make good music, you have to make it from the heart," replies Stenman.

"You don't use metrics. So it's the same with gaming, because it's entertainment. And nowadays, at least with the mobile industry, it seems everybody's doing fast games with metrics upfront, and no love about the characters, no love about the game itself.

"So, we are trying to make 'long term games', with characters you actually care about. Even though we are a small team - we're ten people - we are making two games."

Stenman shows us his game which, unfortunately, the company is not keen to disclose publicly at the moment. What we can tell you about it is that its approach to game design, specifically in its monetisation model, is quite unlike anything we've seen before.

Essentially the model Rammin' Speed is taking is much closer to the way the movie industry works.

"I call it relevant advertising," he details. "If it's a no-name product, there's no difference about a real product being put in, because as a consumer you already buy those products. I showed our game in its current build to my wife.

"She didn't know the advertising within it was advertising, because she knows it, it's relevant."

Fast food

Rammin' Speed's model - creating games in which an advertiser brunts a significant chunk of the bill, without the game turning into an advert itself – is certainly unique.

"We can get more information about the people playing. We are a better marketing channel for advertisers," Stenman argues.

And the game's going to be unleashed in just six months, with interest from several large companies - both in and outside the games industry – apparently rolling in.

So just where did the idea behind it stem from?

"I've done a lot of things in the past. I worked with McDonalds on an entertainment product for their restaurants, so I've seen the models those companies use, and I'm an avid movie fan, so I know what those guys do too," he adds.

We note to Stenman that the film industry, for as much as it gets panned, has a sophisticated model of financing: the amount of money it can raise through placements alone can be staggering.

Stenman agrees: "I think that video game culture is old fashioned. It's similar to the music industry actually. It's in the past. It has to wake up."