Two Decades of Game Industry Experience (White Nights Conference Helsinki 2016)

1. Two Decades of
Game Industry Experience
White Nights Helsinki ´16
20160212

2. About
 Shortly on speaker & company
 Now vs Then – Finnish game industry
 Two Decades of Game Industry Experience
 Our golden guideline & key value

3. Speaker

4. Company
 Award-winning independent game studio
 Based in Helsinki, Finland
 Creates original titles for console and PC

5. Finnish game industry then & now
1995 2015
First companies in the start-up phase 250+ companies
Many international success stories
No revenues to speak of
20-30 developers employed
A few dozen enthusiastic people
Revenues up to 2 Bn EUR+
2500+ people employed
Pre-internet era
Only retail opportunities
Explosion of opportunities
Gaming breaking mainstream
Little funding available Plenty of funding opportunities

6. Two Decades of Experience
Partnering key to success

7. Partners Create value
Outsourcing to marketing to publishing

8. Partners Create value
Time for complex network of partners
• Financing deals
• Strategy consultation
• Promotional channels
Developer collaboration as a trend

9. Two Decades of Experience
Competition matters

10. Competition console
The first Finnish
console game 2002
• Tough direct competiton
• Platform realities

11. Competition mobile
1st iOS Game 2012
New definition of
competition
• Business models
• Number of titles
• Dominating
companies

12. Two Decades of Experience
Change of strategy a necessity

13. Necessity of change
What has stuck over the years?
• Game developer in the value chain
• Focus on creating new IPs
• Partnering with a publisher
• Trying new game genres & changing with times
Strategic changes
• Platforms come and go
• Distribution
• Selfpublishing iOS-PC-Console
In the radar
• Developing new partnerships & Exploring new frontiers

14. Mobile Pioneer
SpringToys spin-off in 2000
• Games for WAP-phones (!!!)
• Way, way too early
Second time doing mobile in 2004-2006
• Mobile game based on the Narnia
movie
Third time 2010-2014
• Two iOS projects
Another try 2016-?
• If so, partnerships matter

15. HMQ 20th Anniversary Year
Games of Housemarque

16. How did we get here

17. And most importantly...
THE GAME IS KING
Everything else is details.

18. Thank you for listening!
Q&A
Contact: ilari.kuittinen@housemarque.fi