Finland game industry expanded by 57% in 2011

The Finnish game industry grew at an annual rate of 57 per cent in 2011, according to a report by the International Game Developers Association.

As reported by Bloomberg, the game sector has grown to a value of €165 million with the industry’s expansion showing little signs of abating with the continued success of Angry birds and Supercell, the latter of which recently revealed it had been generating $500,000 a day from its iOS title Clash of Clans.

Further stats on the IGDA website show that in 2011, the Finnish game industry employed around 1,264 developers, with the biggest development hubs in Helsinki, Tampere, Oulu, Turku and Kotka.

The IGDA’s goal is to grow the local game industry to 6,500 employees by 2020, with a targeted valuation of €1billion.

The Finnish game industry’s impressive growth has been partly down to the rise in mobile gaming, which a number of its studios have managed to take advantage of to huge success.

Develop recently spoke with Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen on how the studio has amassed its mobile millions, and he said he was upbeat about how Finland’s development sector has been able to expand in recent years, and is expecting more to come in the next few years.

“What has really unleashed the full potential of our industry here is the disruption that came along with the app stores and these new incredible gaming platforms, smartphones and tablets,” he said.

“Those rare creative and technical talents are now being organised into very strong teams and companies throughout Finland. So you can expect to see more great games and games companies from Finland in the coming years.”