IGDA Finland Presented Volunteer of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Awards at Finnish Game Awards

On May 13th, we celebrated the Finnish Game Awards alongside Neogames and Suomen Pelinkehittäjät ry, with awards presented in two categories this year.

The first category was the IGDA Volunteer of the Year. This award was given to our amazing volunteer, Daria Bokovaya, who has actively contributed to the reawakening and refinement of the Chat Corner concept, and continues that humble and impactful work even today.

The second category was the Lifetime Award, which recognizes long-term dedication and contributions to our community. This year, the award was presented to Christopher Hamilton, who has been with us for many years and continues to make incredible events like Leadership Day and Finnish Games Week possible.

Thank you both for your invaluable contributions, IGDA Finland is truly lucky to have you among us!

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Also a big congrats to the rest of all the winners:
Mainframe Industries for winning the Finnish Game of the Year 2024 award with the game Pax Dei.
Makea Games for taking the second place with the game Supermoves.
Fingersoft / LEGO Hill Climb Adventures, Ranela Games Oy / Finnish Cottage Simulator and Supercell / Squad Busters for placing third.
Ilkka Paananen for receiving the Power Player of the Year 2024 award.
Hanki Games Oy for being the Rookie of the Year 2024.
Ranela Games Oy / Finnish Cottage Simulator for winning the Excellence Award for best indie game awarded by W Love Games
Ali İrdiren for becoming the Jampion of the Year, awarded by Finnish Game Jam
Team Scavenger for winning the Bit1 Student Game Competition 2025, with their game Spaceship Scavenger.

The full game awards ceremony can be watched from Youtube.

Unreal Fellowship Now Open to International Talent

Intensive Unreal Fellowship programs have been organized since 2023 in Novi Sad, Serbia byEpic Games / 3Lateral. This year they have opened it to international students!

🎓 The Unreal Fellowship: Product Storytelling is a 4-week, full-time, in-person deep dive into Unreal Engine and Motion Capture systems. The program is completely free and structured like a full-time job: Monday to Friday, 9–5. Students will need to cover transportation and housing costs.

💥 With just 14 spots per group, this is a rare opportunity for aspiring creators to work with cutting-edge tools in a world-class environment.

🔗 Follow this link to learn more and apply for the June cohort. Deadline: June 1, 2025

Indie ambitions & IGDA Finland Grant

Mix an ambitious team of artists with a surreal vintage comic book fever-dream of an RPG and you get Paradigm Island. And the very first project to be backed by the IGDA Finland Grant.

End-all Entertainment and their first debut title, the aforementioned Paradigm Island, is a narrative RPG set in a gorgeous, peculiar world with an eclectic set of characters. It has it all: dark humor, dicey decisions and dividing paths that spiral into delightfully weird places. Play as Mike, an orphan, raised by mercenaries, now on the cusp of adulthood, going on a mission that morally gets real murky, real quick.

That’s the heart of the IGDA Finland Grant. A way to help fresh indie developers in Finland who are entering the industry and getting their first publicly released game out, just like End-all Entertainment was. We’re talking money, mentorship and marketing, the whole package. 

Honestly, it’s the kind of game that probably started as a cafeteria brainwave and is now aiming for a summer 2025 release. And we’re absolutely here for it.

“Being chosen as the recipients of the first IGDA grant, we've received support and mentoring that have helped us push Paradigm Island even further and refine our vision,” them End-all people said.
“Huge thanks to IGDA for believing in our project—the Grant has definitely made an impact!”

Hey, their words, not ours. 🙏

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That’s exactly what the Grant is for. Helping weird, wonderful and interesting games and their devs find their way into the world and the industry.

And if you're a dev taking your first steps into the industry and working on your first released game, you might just be this year’s chosen team!
Polish that pitch deck, whip up a killer demo, head to igda.fi/grant to check the requirements and fill out the application and maybe, just maybe, IGDA Finland will help you get a foothold in the industry and make your first game a reality.

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Any last words from End-all Entertainment?

Fair play, End-all, fair play.

Leadership Day: Call for Speakers

Leadership Day by IGDA Finland is returning to Helsinki City Hall to explore how we build companies, teams and working cultures to make the best games. Offering often overlooked insights to game development, this event will be kicking off Finnish Games Week in Helsinki on October 6, 2025.

We invited you to share your expertise on leadership topics that define success in the industry. Whether it's building resilient companies, navigating team dynamics, embracing change, fostering accessibility, shaping corporate culture, guiding mentorship programs, managing stakeholders, optimizing remote work, nurturing communities, mediating conflicts, cultivating investor and publisher relations, strategizing outsourcing needs, championing corporate social responsibility or any other leadership topic that you are passionate about, we welcome your contribution.

Submissions should be made using this form by June 6, 2025.

For more information visit: https://www.igda.fi/leadership-day

Pocket Gamer goes to Barcelona

Pocket Gamer Connects is launching its first-ever B2B games industry conference in Barcelona, June 3-4.

Barcelona, with its vibrant tech scene and rich cultural backdrop, sets the perfect stage for two packed days of talks, panels, and networking. Attendees will gain full access to the powerful MeetToMatch platform, explore innovations on the expo floor and in the Big Indie Zone, and take part in premium networking events—including the official after-party and exclusive fringe sessions like the Very Big Indie Pitch, Investor Connector, and Publisher SpeedMatch.

This event will feature 19 dedicated content tracks covering mobile, PC, console, AI, web3, HTML5, and more—offering deep dives into the industry’s growth engines for 2025 and beyond. It’s a fantastic opportunity for anyone in the games space to learn, share ideas, and make meaningful connections.

IGDA Finland members get 20% off when using promocode: IGDAFinland20

Register with this link to have it automatically applied.

For additional information visit the conference website.