Finnish games market growth slows dramatically
Year-on-year increase drops to 4% as number of new start-ups falls to lowest point since 2009
The expansion of the Finnish games industry, which has been a haven for start-up studios over the past few years, has begun to slow down.
The nation's games association Neogames has released a new report that shows year-on-year growth in turnover has dropped from 33% between 2014 to 2015 down to 4% between 2015 and 2016, Pocket Gamer reports.
The report also notes that the number of new studios founded over the past year has decreased when compared to previous years. 2016 saw the birth of only 16 games firms, which is the lowest seen in the region since 2009. Between 2010 and 2015, each year would see the formation of between 25 and 55 new games comapnies.
20 studios are also believed to have shut down in 2016, lowering Finland's total number of active games developers to 250.
However, while the growth was slight, it was growth nonetheless: the Finnish games industry's turnover rose to €2.5bn, an year-on-year increase of €100m.
30 of the nation's 250 studios claim to be making over €1m per year, while the total number of people employed by the industry rising by 50 year-on-year to 2,750.
Neogames also expects further growth in 2017, with an estimated 280 jobs likely to be created. However, with local talent increasingly hard to recruit - largely because so much of Finland's games-applicable talent is already employed by the industry, more studios are like to hire from abroad. According to the report, 18% of the sector's employees have already relocated to Finland from elsewhere.