
Why are there so many successful Swedish gaming companies? - jp1989
http://swedishstartupspace.com/2013/09/23/sweden-game-development/
======
pathy
Mojang actually is even more profitable than stated in the article.
Unbelievably profitable.

Mojang AB[1]'s profit is 324m SEK after taxes (39.3% profit margin before
taxes) but they also paid out a lot money to Notch Development AB [2] (Which
is 100% owned by Notch) in licensing fees. Notch Development AB had 637m in
revenue, (almost?) all of it from the licensing fees from Mojang, with a
profit of 467m (97.24% profit margin before taxes)

Mojang AB is owned by Notch, Carl Manneh and Jakob Porsér while Notch
Development is soley owned by Notch. That is some good future proofing of his
assets, in case of disputes or whatever down the line.

[1]
[http://www.allabolag.se/5568192388/Mojang_AB](http://www.allabolag.se/5568192388/Mojang_AB)

[2]
[http://www.allabolag.se/5567597686/Notch_Development_AB](http://www.allabolag.se/5567597686/Notch_Development_AB)

~~~
jp1989
If that Allabolag page doesn't get you inspired, I don't know what will.... :D

~~~
pathy
Not to mention that they make up around 40% of the Swedish Game Dev revenue
and 70 all of the profit. Though, most other devs are actually owned by EA et
al. So there is probably some Hollywood-style accounting going on

[http://www.dataspelsbranschen.se/media/134049/spelutvecklari...](http://www.dataspelsbranschen.se/media/134049/spelutvecklarindex_2012.pdf)
Swedish only sorry, page 6 & 7 for the numbers

~~~
jp1989
Just read that report this morning, some really interesting up and comers too.

~~~
pathy
Definitely!

We should see a good spike in Starbreeze's revenue as well as both Payday 2
and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons have sold well and received good reviews.

I expect there will be a fair few mobile/casual game companies coming up once
the devs over King start creating new companies. Candy Crush has been such as
success that we will probably see more along that line in the future.

~~~
jp1989
Yep! As part of the article research, we actually came across countless
companies who have developers who have contributed to some of the bigger hits
like CC etc. Will be very interesting to see how those dev's use that
knowledge and apply it to new companies.

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mjn
To add some low-budget examples, I did a tally [1] of where the 2013
Independent Games Festival finalists came from, and Sweden had four:

Göteborg: Hotline Miami, by Dennaton
[http://www.hotlinemiami.com/](http://www.hotlinemiami.com/)

Malmö: rymdkapsel, by grapefrukt
[http://rymdkapsel.com/](http://rymdkapsel.com/)

Malmö: Year Walk, by Simogo Games
[http://simogo.com/games/yearwalk/](http://simogo.com/games/yearwalk/)

Stockholm: Eleven, by Christoffer Hedborg
[http://elevenminutesofspace.com/](http://elevenminutesofspace.com/)

[1] The full IGF finalist list annotated with location:
[http://www.kmjn.org/notes/igf2013_geography.html](http://www.kmjn.org/notes/igf2013_geography.html)

~~~
JonLim
That's awesome. I had no idea Toronto represented so well in the IGDF, but I
probably should. :)

------
sambeau
_In the 1990′s, the Swedish government subsidized the cost of computers for
every family, allowing any Swedish family to buy a personal computer. This
must’ve had a great impact – allowing a generation of Swedish kids to mess
around with computers, coding and technology._

I've heard a similar argument made for why Dundee became a hub of computer
game development in the UK — access to cheap computers for working-class
families. (plus Dundee also has long cold winters)

In Dundee's case it was access to Sinclair ZX Spectrums that 'accidentally'
went missing from the Timex factory.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Sinclair](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Sinclair)

~~~
pjmlp
The first computer I owned was a Timex Sinclar 2068. :)

Quite nice, specially the advanced mode with access to a better sound chip
than the standard 48+.

However one needed the ZX Spectrum compatibility cartridge to proper load
Spectrum games.

------
sfjailbird
Already back in the glory days of the demo scene, the best teams came from
Sweden, with the other Scandinavian countries also well represented.

It is definitely both a culture and a climate thing. The point about consensus
culture is a good observation - in some contexts it can be crippling, but in
creative-technical hybrid endeavors like games, these teams can really do some
damage.

~~~
vinkelhake
The demo scene was indeed strong in Sweden. Several of the Swedish game
developers started out there. Digitial Illusions (the DI in DICE) started out
as the demo group The Silents and wrote pinball games for the Amiga. Several
members from TBL (the Black Lotus) later came to work in the games industry.

Trivia: Stefan Boberg who is a technical director on Frostbite wrote the Amiga
version of LHA which was _the_ file compressor on Amiga.

~~~
johnyzee
Danish IO Interactive (Hitman etc.) are also out of the demo scene with
notables like Jesper Kyd and the Lemon group.

~~~
mjn
Tore Blystad (game director on _Hitman: Absolution_ ) was also from the
demoscene, part of the Norwegian demo group Spaceballs in the early 1990s,
where he worked on this famous demo:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Art_(demo)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_the_Art_\(demo\))

Oddly there's not a big game scene in Norway, though. The Norwegian
demosceners seem to have either gone into other things, or gone into games
outside of Norway.

------
INTPenis
Where I live in Malmö we have Four hackspaces. Four of them!

I'm quite proud of the IT scene in Sweden.

Edit: To clarify, Malmö is smaller than both Göteborg and Stockholm.

~~~
jtfairbank
Oooh I'm studying abroad in Lund right now. Which hack spaces do you go to and
when? I'd love to meet some other devs and get away for a weekend to work.

~~~
INTPenis
I believe there are none in Lund because one time this girl came in to
Stapelbäddsparken with her father and said that they couldn't find these
places in Lund.

So if you want to hack hardware I suggest hack space called Fabriken at
Stapelbäddsparken in Malmö.

If you want to hack software I suggest hack space Bageriet at Volframsgatan
([http://forskningsavd.se](http://forskningsavd.se)) or Hack space at
Kontrapunkt (Norra Grängesbergsgatan 26b).

------
rdw
Also of note: there is the Nordic Game Program, which encourages the
development of original game projects.
[http://www.nordicgameprogram.org/?id=23](http://www.nordicgameprogram.org/?id=23)
(for all Nordic countries, not just Sweden)

~~~
gillianseed
Do you know if there is an active indie game development scene in Sweden? I
looked around for some swedish indie game development focused sites and those
I found seemed pretty dead, like indiegamedev.se.

~~~
speeder
Like half of tigsource regulars are Swedish.... Visit their forums and you
will see a Nordic scene.

Actually this fuels some controversy ( tig ties to IGF and the excessive
amount or Nordic judges and Nordic winners, while good games from Latin
America and Africa are ignored )

------
domrdy
Also some of the best e-sports teams in the world come from Sweden, like SK
Gaming or the winners of this years "The International" Dota2 tournament,
Alliance.

~~~
draugadrotten
...and a 23-year old Swedish gamer, "pewdiepie", is more popular than
Jesus^h^h^h^h^h^h Beatles

[http://www.tubefilter.com/2013/08/15/its-official-
pewdiepie-...](http://www.tubefilter.com/2013/08/15/its-official-pewdiepie-
becomes-most-subscribed-channel-on-youtube/)

~~~
jp1989
Haha! This guy has been making the press a lot lately! :D

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Ma8ee
One reason for the flourishing gaming scene in particular, and the many
startups in general, that hasn't been mentioned here yet, is the very strong
social safety net. People can afford to take risks even after they have
started a family. Losing your job, or that your startup tanks, doesn't mean
that you lose health insurance or your kids access to a good education, or
that you have to worry that you don't can afford food or a roof over your
head.

(It's not that screwing up doesn't have any consequences at all. You won't be
able to keep your expensive apartment or fancy car while on welfare, but all
your basic needs will be covered.)

~~~
kelvin0
Social measures (Swedish social safety nets) which help a the Free market and
capitalists (profit by making games); Ayn Rand lovers would probably implode
from the cognitive dissonance.

I read Atlas Shrugged (painfully) and kept being bothered by the simplistic
ideals put forth. Your argument seems to me to be the perfect counter-example
to her deluded ideals.

Thanks!

~~~
mjn
There's a very strong individualist current in Scandinavia, but interpreted
differently. Many people actually view Americans and southern Europeans as
_more_ collectivist, in the clannish sense, because of their reliance on
family, extended-family, and churches for safety nets. The ideal in
Scandinavia is that each individual can go it alone roughly equally, rather
than e.g. having to rely on your parents to pay part of your university, your
kids to take care of you in your old age, family to take you in if you're
disabled or broke, etc.

------
kayoone
Back in my active esport times (quake2, quake3) sweden also had the best
players and teams most of the time and i believe thats still true to this day.
I am pretty sure its due to excellent IT infrastructure and long winters ;)

------
gvr
I'm a Swedish product designer and engineer, and think Swedish creativity is
the same and any other country's: it's about taking stuff you've learned in
one field and applying it to another.

Swedish people in my not entirely unbiased opinion tend to be exceptionally
good at this and I think that's because education tends to be very broad - if
you want to take music lessons and learn to play an instrument in Sweden it's
essentially paid for by the state. Want to create a study group to learn about
painting, same thing. If you go to study say engineering physics at a masters
program, they'll also force you to learn at least the basics in fields like
construction, electrical engineering, software engineering, etc. When you exit
high school, even if you've taken a scientific route, you've learned about
wood work, mechanical engineering, probably at least 2 languages beyond
Swedish, etc.

Part of this I think is attributable to the culture isn't so focused on
knowledge being measured or "accounted for" financially.

A second reason is probably that it's pretty cold in Sweden in the winters,
but I don't think that has nearly as much to do with it.

Disclaimer: I'm born 77 and left the country 99. Some people claim that
education isn't as good as it used to be. I don't know, but I think most of
the people creating kick ass products right now are people that were born in
the 80s or earlier.

------
mariusmg
Swedish game devs an no mention of Starbreeze Studios ?!! Seriously ?
"Brothers : A tale of two sons" was the most interesting game i played all
year.

~~~
emiljbs
Or Paradox.

~~~
jeltz
Which are becoming a quite popular publisher among small game developers. For
example another Swedish company, Fatshark, has created War of the Roses and
uses Paradox as a publisher.

Paradox's own games (Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis 4) are also more
successful than ever.

The Swedish game developers seems to be booming.

------
jp1989
By the way, I know a number of Swedish gaming companies are looking for
engineers - if anyone is interested.
[http://swedishstartupspace.com/jobs/](http://swedishstartupspace.com/jobs/)

~~~
spokenn
I've always wanted to work, game & live in Sweden.

~~~
jp1989
Here's your chance :D

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mercurial
The Hitman franchise is from neighbouring Denmark. And the last Space Hulk
game as well (though it didn't get stellar reviews...).

~~~
workhere-io
Unity is also from Denmark (although I think they moved to San Francisco now).

~~~
ijk
They have 27 locations now, but I believe that major development is still in
Denmark:
[http://unity3d.com/company/people](http://unity3d.com/company/people)

~~~
mjn
Yeah, the San Francisco office is now officially the headquarters (moved from
Copenhagen in 2009), but as you can see from the bios of the people listed as
being in SF on that page, it's almost exclusively the sales and finance
office, not where engine dev takes place.

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georgeecollins
As a person who has spent his professional career developing games all over
the world, I would say that part of it is that there are fewer competing
industries drawing away talent in Sweden. Games are one of thoese things you
can do almost anywhere if you can get the right art, design and tech talent
together. In the US you have a strong film and television industry, a lot of
tech companies and start ups, driving up the demand for talent. In Sweden you
have less of that.

~~~
purplelobster
The tech industry might not be big in comparison to the US, but per capita I
would think it is. Sweden's prosperity was built largely on technology,
engineering, natural resources and heavy industry. The economy is pretty
diversified now, with large fashion, design and bio-medical industries as
well. In general, just like you say, the entertainment industries and
financial industries are much smaller.

My guess for why there are so many game developers in Sweden: people are free
to pursue whatever they want, without much financial pressures. People don't
rush through college, because there's no tuition. They're not as pressured to
go into high-paying industries because they have less debt to pay off. That
combined with early access to computers and internet creates an environment
where people pursue their passions, for better or worse.

------
CmonDev
No mention of Starbreeze and the new Riddick game.

~~~
rob08
They should have mentioned Starbreeze which seems to have found gold with its
Payday 2. But from what I understand it is not Starbreeze that will make the
new Riddick game, but another Swedish developer Machine Games (which was
founded by a bunch of old Starbreeze staff after the Syndicate flop)

~~~
_random_
Same guys same country :). My personal favourite is Enclave - IMHO way under-
appreciated.

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englishVoodoo
There's a Swedish iOS game developer that's quite successful as well, Toca
Boca. They're doing games for the small ones and as a father of two I have
every single game they've developed on my iPads. Quality work that sits well
with my kids.

[http://tocaboca.com](http://tocaboca.com)

------
hajak
IllusionLabs are also from Malmö: www.illusionlabs.com

