Nordics is an upcoming gaming market. The market is really exciting and enticing to players. In the past years Sweden has emerged the top spot for video games. Candy crush saga, Angry birds, Minecraft, Battlefield and Clash of Clans are among the games that have been produced in Sweden. The Nordic region has proven to have among the most talented, competent and competitive developers who are versatile and up to date with new and upcoming technologies. The developers, make the region a benchmark for the gaming in terms of design and trends. They lead in MMO, VR and AR technologies and trainings in other gaming industry whilst their education system is envied by the whole world.
Gaming culture
Sweden has had a culture for games and as a result has now become a major player. This is according to Sweden’s spokesperson for trade organizations- Swedish games industry Stromback. Stromback goes ahead to explain that for the development of gaming to occur it involves consistent gamers, e-sport competitors, Dreamhack-type festivals, Youtubers amongst others. Sweden again tops as far as stakeholders are concerned having over 95million subscribers, Dream Hack being the largest digital festival across the world. Among the world’s elite players, a couple of them are from Sweden while their country has been ranked second largest among the e-sport market.
Contribution of success
In the 1980’s, computer usage and literacy spread widely across the world. The government and union reinforced the accessibility of computers from home around 1998. They used subsidies and tax incentives to entice their employees to purchase personal computers which made it quite affordable for them. The easy accessibility of computers played a great role in introducing computer gaming among people. This could have been brought about by the fact that most people could access the computers ample time and get to learn more in its usage and also the fun around learning new technology and new ways of having fun indoors.
The government of Sweden enabled internet accessibility to everyone as a way of promoting and supporting education across the nation. This initiative also boosted the spreading of online gaming thus placing the Swedish Casino Products leading the way. Stromback also thinks that the weather too contributed to the booming of online gaming. This can be explained by the fact that when its cloudy or chilly most people do not do much but instead prefers to be indoors and with the introduction of online gaming it becomes a way of killing time.
Operating in a small domestic market such as Sweden has its advantages. One is that developers start to focus on the entire western market much earlier than developers from more populated countries. Another benefit is that it makes it much easier to ‘soft launch’ a product.
Testing the market
Swedish company comes up with a game, test it in the country collect feedback and work on them before embarking on launching it for the world.
According to Martin Lindell, Sweden has a wide range of developers ranging from amateurs to very experienced ones who even opt to quit jobs and develop their own startups. This means that a risk for entrepreneurship in Sweden doesn’t translate to personal financial loss.
While Sweden leads in online gaming, Finland is on the first runners up position and is growing steadily. Its market growth rate for the gaming industry is incomparable to any country’s market. This puts Sweden at a state of stiff and real competition. Sweden therefore need to up their game the more and come up with more advanced technology for the gaming industry so as to remain relevant and at the forefront.
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