Finland to be the first chapter of International Game Developers Association (IGDA) to formalize outside North America

IGDA Finland is proud to be the first IGDA chapter outside North America to formalize as a legal entity. IGDA Finland has registered as an association under the Finnish law and its relationship with main IGDA in United States will be governed by a contract signed in September 2012 between the parties. How to become a member or renew your membership? Here! Here!

IGDA Finland will remain an official part of the international IGDA family and members of IGDA Finland will enjoy the full membership benefits. This new arrangement enables IGDA Finland to better serve the interests of the local IGDA members in Finland. This also means that more of the membership fees can be directed to better cater local needs.

As the first actions, IGDA Finland will start expanding its service offering beyond Helsinki. IGDA Finland wants to provide support to game developers across Finland. The first step is to build a network of IGDA Finland Student Club initiatives across the region.

“IGDA Finland wants to facilitate the exchange of ideas and best practices, help new talent to get into the local industry as well as attract foreign talent to Finland. With Student Clubs we are able to drive regional development, support local game development hubs across Finland and promote entrepreneurship”, states Sonja Ängeslevä, the first Chair of the IGDA Finland association.

IGDA Finland ry works closely together with Pelikehittäjät ry (Finnish Game developer Companies association) and Neogames Finland ry, to form Finnish Game Cluster which aims to help the Finnish game development business to develop and grow. The cluster aims to push Finnish game industry to it's present state to be even greater economical value. Finnnish games industry aims to be billion € industry by 2020.

For more information on IGDA Finland and details on how to become a member, please visit http://www.igda.fi.

Contact: IGDA Finland ry Chair: Sonja Ängeslevä Sonja.Angesleva@igda.fi Tel. +358 400 759 817

IGDA Finland ry is a legally registered association under the Finnish law. The mission of IGDA Finland is to promote the development of careers and professional skills of individual game developers (and individuals of related industries) based in Finland, and to further develop the international recognition of the Finnish game developer community.

International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is the largest non-profit membership organization serving individuals who create video games. IGDA advances the careers and enhances the lives of game developers by connecting members with their peers, promoting professional development, and advocating on issues that affect the developer community. These core activities advance games as a medium—and game development as a profession.

Kansallinen pelipäivä 11.11.2012 - part of International Games Day

International Games Day - Kansallinen pelipäivä 11 November 2012. Press release in Finnish only - sorry: Kansallinen pelipäivä juhlii pelaamisen monimuotoisuutta ja tuo uudet pelaamisen muodot perinteisen pelien rinnalle samanarvoisina. Pelipäivä antaa pelialan toimijoille mahdollisuuden esitellä omaa toimintaansa ja kokoaa kaikki peleistä kiinnostuneet eri sukupolvien edustajat kirjastoihin, kouluihin ja nuorisotaloille pelaamaan yhdessä.

This is an opportunity for Finnish game developers as well. What about coming out of the studios and giving ordinary people an idea what you are working on. More information from the Kansallinen pelipäivä website.

IGDA Finland October Gathering with Unity and GameFounders

9th October was a day of tricks and treats for the game folk in Finland.

October’s IGDA Finland Presentations are now behind us, and they were a success! All 250 tickets were reserved in advance. The theme of the evening was Unity 4, and a few lucky ones even won themselves a full Unity Pro 4.0 license. Just in case you inexplicably missed the event, let’s recap.

Nick Jovic and his merry men from Unity Technologies gave us a taste of the next generation of their platform. Colossal Order’s very own Damien Morello shared his tips and tricks for Unity, and you even get a chance to put your freshly gained knowledge to good use: Antti Lihavainen opened VIOPE’s world wide Game Programming Contest.

What comes to the post-Unity Gathering in Bar Cuba, the words of a fellow attendee sums things up nicely: ”It's a bit crowded.”

Nick Jovic was in the mood for a popquiz, and awarded correct answers with Unity’s t-shirts. We learned, for example, where the company’s main office is situated (San Francisco, for future reference) and where Unity will established their newest office (Berlin, now you know).

The other big thing came from across the Baltic Sea. Kadri Ugand from the Estonian game accelerator GameFounders first greeted us with kind words and then dropped the proverbial bomb: the second round of GameFounders program is now officially open!

Thank you for spending an evening with us! This time the number of attendees in the Gathering went up to 261. See you in November!

IGDA Finland in Steam

If you haven't heard of Steam Greenlight before, it's about time. Steam Greenlight is a new publishing platform inside Steam, where users can influence which games are to be sold in Steam's Store. Greenlight is a great opportunity for Finnish game developers to get peer support and, quite simply, to get the word around. And on the internet the word does get around.

Naturally IGDA Finland doesn't want to stand in the way of progress. IGDA Finland has a Greenlight Collection in Steam, where we want to showcase your games. The collection is an easy way to browse, rate and discuss upcoming games. If you want your game in the IGDA Steam Collection, contact us and ask us to add your game. If you already have a Steam account, send a message to the user IGDA_Finland. If you aren't in Steam yet, you can send email to jukka.huiskonen@igda.fi.

We also have our own Steam Group, and we welcome you all to join us there! The point of all this is to help gamers and developers throughout Finland to find an inspire each other. What Finland lacks in size, it makes up for in enthusiasm.

See you in Steam!

Finnish gaming cluster is on the threshold of hyper-growth

Habbo Hotel, Max Payne, and Angry Birds are examples of the international success stories created by Finnish gaming companies. The community award received by Finnish gaming cluster was presented to three organizations that are active in the field: Finnish Game Developers' Association ry., which represents gaming companies, IGDA, which brings together game developers in Finland, and Neogames, which represents business, training and research in the games industry.

"The task of organizations is to serve as a spokesperson for the industry and promote company activities by creating structures for matters like training and financing. Game companies are always aware that they have to be international. They participate in tough international competition right from the start, so the operating field for organizations is also international," explains KooPee Hiltunen, Director of Neogames Centre of Game Business, Research and Development.

In economic terms, the rapidly growing game industry is Finland's most important cultural export, and it produces top international products and success stories. More than 90% of the market for Finnish game companies is in the United States and Western Europe. Companies that develop games and provide game services are at the heart of the industry. The game industry employs approximately 1,300 people in Finland. The combined turnover of the 70 companies operating in the industry was more than EUR 165 million in 2011, and the industry is the largest of its kind in the Nordic countries.

This post is a partial copy of this press release