Feature
Finland: Small Teams, Big Games
How a country of five and a half million people became home to world-class action and mobile studios.
- Author
- The Editors
- Published
- Updated
- Reading time
- 6 minutes
Official game screenshots © their respective owners
Finland's games industry is often explained through two companies: Remedy and Supercell. But the story behind them is about culture as much as commerce.
The demoscene
From the late 1980s, Finnish programmers, musicians and artists gathered to create real-time audiovisual 'demos' and compete at events. That culture of technical craft produced many of the country's future developers — including Remedy's founders.
Remedy's cinematic voice
From Max Payne to Alan Wake 2, Remedy has pursued story-driven action with a distinctive, self-aware style. Its games increasingly share a connected universe.
“Small, trusted teams are a recurring theme in Finnish game development.”
Supercell's cells
Supercell has described itself as a collection of small, independent teams. Several of its games were cancelled before launch, and the company has talked openly about learning from those decisions.
Sources & further reading
The Editors
Written and reviewed by the editorial team at Online European Games. We are independent: no studio or publisher pays for coverage. Read our editorial policy.
