Live And Kicking
Four years on: Dodreams CEO Erik Pöntiskoski on why Drive Ahead is showing no signs of slowing down
"We realised that it's not about how much content the game has but how you combine it into fresh experiences"
Indie Spotlight
Indie Spotlight: Panzerdog on making Tacticool a $1 million a month hit
“It has never been better for indies"
Regional Report
The state of the Finland’s €2 billion-plus games industry
Supercell's influence is waning as company sales decline and other studios grow
Financing Deal
Finnish developer Kuuhubb picks up $1.1 million loan
Business Finland fronts up the funds
Critical Moves
Finnish studio Critical Force names ex-CFO Sami Tolonen as its new CEO
Former CEO and company founder Veli-Pekka Piirainen to focus on role as chairman of the board
Deepening Losses
Up to 30 full-time jobs on the line at Finnish dev Nitro Games
Studio employs 51 staff
What's Next?
The Walking Dead: Our World dev Next Games lays off 26 staff as losses mount
Operating losses for 2018 increases to $19 million
Super Hire
Former Grand Cru CEO Markus Pasula joins Supercell as game developer
Former Rovio SVP of global studios Antti Viitanen took up reigns of Grand Cru in February 2018
Financials
Supercell revenue drops again to $1.6 billion for 2018
But Brawl Stars performance signals better times ahead
Puppy Love
Charity fundraiser Dog Jam aims to raise money for homeless dogs by making games
Funds will go to Animal Front, which is struggling to look after over 800 dogs
Serious Money
Best Fiends developer Seriously grew revenue by 65% to $69m in 2018
Credit for growth given to focus on live ops and marketing strategy
Star Launch
Brawl Stars: “We at Supercell have never prepared more for a game launch”
Brawl Stars releases globally on December 12th
Teach
Supercell clashes games skill shortage with free new coding school
Finnish developer puts significant funding behind the free Helsinki program
Early Bird Expands
Mobile still has ‘plenty of opportunity’ says Henric Suuronen, launching $30 million Play Ventures fund
Ex-angel investor upscales
Smart Move?
Clash Royale dev Supercell invests $5.6m in smartwatch experts Everywear Games
"With Supercell supporting us we can now focus on our long-term vision"
Financials
Tough quarter for Next Games as losses hit $12m and Our World is beset by "technical challenges"
Walking Dead titles said to be profitable, but lack of cash could hold back future development
Job Klaxon
Angry Birds developer Rovio swoops for Gameloft exec to head up games teams
Alexandre Pelletier-Normand joins from Gameloft, where he served as executive vice president of games
Dunk
Rovio partners with the Chicago Bulls NBA team to create the Angry Birds Eye View Cam
Mobile developer becomes the first Finnish company to sponsor an NBA team
Job News Hype
Finnish studio Seriously adds trio of key hires to its ranks
Sylvain Cunzi joins at VP of games technology, Brian Ru joins as director of strategy and operations while Jamie Samson joins as Legal Counsel
Fiendish
Best Fiends games fetch $150m in lifetime revenue
Titles have been downloaded over 85 million times
International Recruitment
Games Factory Talents aims to showcase global dev talent to Finnish studios
Initiative to focus on Eastern European developers seeking jobs in Finland
X Marks The Spot
From Nintendo Switch to PC: Inside Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki’s Connect X track
Pocket Gamer Connect Helsinki lands in Finland September 11th to September to 12th
Critical
Speaker Spotlight: Critical Force CEO Veli-Pekka Piiranen delves into company growth and culture
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki touches down in Finland September 11th to 12th
Traded
All things Trade Trends at Pocket Gamer Connect Helsinki
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki will last from September 11th to 12th.
Eastern Delights
A peek into Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki's East meets West track before it happens
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki will last from September 11th to 12th
Monetised
Looking inside the Monetiser track at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki touches down in Finland from September 11th to 12th
Acquisition News
UK publisher PlayStack acquires Finnish developer Hisome
Studio renamed PlayStack Oy and will be responsible for development and finding new partners
Kitted Out
Looking into the Developer Toolkit track at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki touches down in Finland on September 11th to 12th
Lay Of The Land
Looking across the Live Ops Landscape at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki touches down in Finland on September 11th to 12th
Infoblast!
Everything you need to know about Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki (UPDATE)
We’ve rounded up all the essential info ahead of next week’s two-day conference and expo
Pocketgamer Connects Helsinki
Speaker Spotlight: Veikkaus game producer Karoliina Korppoo on taking a bet on gambling games
"To me the most interesting trend recently is how people who play gambling games are moving from buying physical scratchcards and playing on physical slot machines to play on mobile"
We Like Sports And We Don’t Care Who Knows
The esports academy track at Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki
The past, present and future of esports in the modern day
Slow And Steady
Next Games revenue nearly halves in H1 2018 as The Walking Dead: Our World dev buckles down on game launches
Development costs and fall in DAUS hurts sales
What A Steel
Casual action game Hills of Steel rolls past 10 million downloads
The publishing label Round Zero was formed by Fingersoft last year
Growing Up
How Finnish studio Koukoi Games is leveraging Hollywood licenses and its own original IP to find success
CEO discusses the studio's history and where it's headed
Be Careful What You Wish For
The madness and method of Supercell’s M&A philosophy
A double-edged sword
Jobs News
Finnish publisher Full XP names Eliza Ralph as CTO
Will be responsible for leading the company’s technical direction and strategy
Got Insight?
Call for speakers for biggest PG Connects Helsinki on September 11th to 12th
Fifth outing to feature new tracks, new partner conference, new fringe events in new venue
Jobs News
Lightneer names new CEO, cancels Big Bang Legends
Co-founder Lauri Jarvilehto steps into chairman role
Funded
Nokia phone manufacturer to “aggressively expand” in 2018 after raising $100 million
Round of investment was led by Ginko Ventures
Rovio Financials
Record revenues for Angry Birds 2 boost Rovio profits
But overall company sales dip year-on-year
Finnish Culture
Ilkka Paananen: Open and friendly community is what makes Finnish games industry special
“Fundamentally I think this results in better games"
New Digs
Games Factory to open new hub for Finnish games companies in June
The tech space will hold 20 Finnish small to mid-sized gaming companies at a time
Ouch
Next Games revenue down 56% in Q1 2018 as Walking Dead: No Man’s Land loses players
Finnish developer cites change in daily active and monthly active users as the primary reason for drop in revenues
Silly Money
Ads generate majority of $270k revenue for Finnish indie Part Time Monkey's Silly Walks
Unity Ads-driven earnings made up 97 per cent of all revenue
Finnternal Promotions
Next Games promotes from within for management team
Finnish games developer also promotes former Head of Games Sami Nurmio to Head of New Projects
Finland's Finest
Empires & Puzzles wins Small Screen Game of the Year at Finnish Game Awards
Former Big Indie Pitch winner Team Ocmo picks up Rookie of the Year
Angry Investors
Rovio: What went wrong?
A real nest buster
Terminal Decay?
Something has gone terribly wrong with Finland - it has become an emblem of mobile games industry stagnation
Tero Kuittinen looks at the recent hot trends in the mobile space, and wonder where Finland's studios are
Cancelled
Armada Interactive cancels debut strategy game Quantum Siege
The title had been in soft launch since May 29th 2017