Neogames on why Finland's games industry is still alive and kicking after a challenging few years

Pocket Gamer Connects heads to Helsinki next month on October 7th to 8th.

As we lead up to the big show, we've been reached out to speakers and local companies to get their views on the Finnish games industry.

We spoke with Neogames director KooPee Hiltunen about its ambitions for the sector, tough new immigration laws, and the investment landscape. Since this interview was conducted as part of our region spotlight, Neogames has published its Finnish games industry report.

PocketGamer.biz: How would you assess the Finnish games scene at the moment?

KooPee Hiltunen: Alive and kicking. Despite some difficulties in the previous couple of years, the Finnish games industry is still strong.

Big companies are doing just fine and the indie scene is more active than it has been in years. Companies are looking for new opportunities and platforms, and regulatory initiatives like the Digital Markets Act will hopefully offer some possibilities for growth in the future years.

What challenges do you see?

Challenges are pretty much the same as previous: big companies are looking for a specialist workforce and smaller ones are looking for publishing deals, customers, or funding. 

What is your outlook for the sector? If we speak again in five years, where do you hope Finland's games market to be? 

In our strategy work a couple of years ago, we also took a look at the year 2030. Our goal is to be an autonomous, sustainable industry with a strong community and strong regional cluster organisations.

Our share of global games industry turnover was around 1,8% in 2023, and we are looking to increase or at least maintain that share, which would mean at least doubling the industry turnover by 2030.

It is an ambitious goal, but we have all the means to reach it. Structurally, we have never been as strong as we are at the moment. 

What more do you want for the country's games scene? I.e. more support from government, more investment in general? 

For years, we have been advocating small-scale, content-oriented funding for start-up studios' first MVP. It is still on the to-do list.

If constructed correctly, this funding could be combined with other public funding (like the Business Finland funding schemes) and maybe used as a leverage to business angel and VC-funding.

My understanding is that there's been a decrease in funding, certainly VC funding, for the Finnish games industry. What's your assessment on the situation? 

The sentiment in the industry seems to be that getting investment is harder than before. The old mobile “scale-up with money” model isn't functional anymore, due to the high UA price.

Investors are looking for a new approach to the game business, but how to find a winning bet? For investors, technology, especially AI-based, seems to be one. In Finland, we are pretty good at all kinds of R&D, so I hope we can turn this situation to our favour.

How has the changes to Finnish immigration law impacted the country's games industry? 

The good news is that almost all the games industry employees fall into the six-month category due to specialist status.

The initiative of the changes was first introduced a couple of years ago. It created some uncertainty and a loud public outroar. 

The games industry, alongside many other industries, strongly opposed the whole idea, and we still do. However, despite the debate, the new legislation took effect on June 11th, 2025.

It is still too early to say what the actual effects will be, since we don´t have any precedents yet. Neogames continues the discussion with authorities, like Migri (the Finnish Immigration Service), about the practicalities.

It´s worth noting that one can find similar legislation in all EU countries, with different implementations. In Finland, we are on par with the protection periods in other EU countries.

Of course, Finland is not as big as some other EU countries and finding a new job is harder since the company base is also smaller. That´s why we are still advocating  for lonegr protection periods. 

Who do you see as the key players in the Finnish games scene in 2025? 

Our aim has always been to develop the whole games industry ecosystem. In that sense, we are all key players.