Swedish games lead the way

20 February 2020

Playing games has been a vital part of human civilisation since the dawn of time. As the birthplace of multibillion success stories like DICE, King and Mojang, the Swedish games industry has a strong position in the thriving business of digital entertainment. In this feature, Per Strömbäck, Spokesperson for the Swedish Games Industry, reveals the fundamentals of the sensational Swedish game boom.

Swedish trade has historically focused on the export of paper and pulp, raw iron and lorries. According to the Swedish Game Developer Index, the combined annual turnover of the Swedish game industry was SEK19,2bn in 2018, which roughly equals that of these more conventional exporting industries. According to Per, a fundamental key factor to success is the beneficial characteristics of creativity as a raw material, which Sweden has a uniquely high supply of: “Creativity is an unlimited raw material, which has no impact on the climate. The Swedish business journalist Pontus Schultz once said that ‘creativity is the new steel’, and I think that we have proven him right.”

A pattern of success
Two parallel revolutionary happenings turned the tide and paved the way for the growth of the industry. In 2014, Microsoft acquired Mojang, the Swedish game developer that created the world-renowned game Minecraft, for a staggering $2,5bn. In comparison, the Chinese automotive company Zhejiang Geely acquired Volvo Car for $1,3bn in 2010. “The blocks of Minecraft were surprisingly worth almost twice the cars of Volvo, which really changed the perspective,” says Per. The following year, the true game changer was when Activision Blizzard acquired King, the Swedish developer which famously makes the Candy Crush Saga, for $5,9bn. This deal was the second biggest acquisition in the history of Swedish enterprises at the time. “That really proved that it is not a coincidence – the pattern of success is there.”

These iconic acquisitions subsequently opened the eyes of the finance community about the impressive potential of the industry. In consequence, the Stockholm Stock Exchange has become somewhat of a game hub, where an increasing number of both domestic and foreign game companies choose to go publicly listed. “The Stockholm Stock Exchange is one of few in the world that is popular and has the necessary business environment for game companies,” explains Per.

Fundamental societal value
Examples of nations that have impactful game clusters beyond Sweden include Finland, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan. Interestingly, there are a few common denominators that enable these countries to provide games on the global market. Per says: “These countries all have a well-educated workforce, computer skills, broadband access, a good political climate in the sense that there is peace, freedom of enterprise and freedom of speech.”

Social safety an enabler
In addition, the Swedish social safety net is a prerequisite for both the creation of new game companies and development of talent. For instance, Swedish youth can benefit from government-funded education and there are currently fourteen higher educational institutions in Sweden that specifically offer programmes for game development, there among reputed universities such as Uppsala University, Linköping University and Luleå University of Technology.

Today, a valuable success factor of the prosperous Swedish market is its highly active audience and rich culture of grassroot events. To illustrate, the Swedish Youtube phenomenon PewdiePie, with more than a hundred million subscribers, made his first viral videos playing Swedish games like Minecraft and Amnesia the Dark Descent. Also, the Swedish player community is famous for its top-scoring e-sporters, as well as the arrangement of the world’s largest LAN party DreamHack.

A bright future ahead
According to Per, Swedish games are famous for their attention to details and ambition of quality, whereas the British game industry is known for its pure, sarcastic and somewhat controversial elements of comedy. Per says: “In our ambition to detail and quality, the comedy part is sometimes lost. Looking forward, I think that the Swedish game developers should be inspired by the British sense of humour.” As a matter of fact, the Swedish game industry has ever since becoming a commercial endeavour in the 1990s been inspired by its British counterpart, which had then already been developed for a decade. “The UK has always been the role model for the European game industry, but Sweden is catching up fast,” says Per.

Looking forward, Per predicts a bright future for the Swedish game industry: “I think we can only blame ourselves if we don’t have continuous success. We have a good education system, Sweden is an attractive labour market and the appetite for playing our games is bigger than we can deliver for. I don’t see any of the important indicators changing anytime soon.”

Business Breakfast featuring Per Strömbäck 
Meet Per Strömbäck at the SCC Business Breakfast on 5 March, where he will reveal the secret recipe behind Sweden’s game boom. Register your interest here.

By: Sara Apéria