Pocket Gamer Monthly Focus: Finland

Last month we relaunched our Monthly Focus series, and we started it all off with a bang. Battle royale was our topic, and we made our best effort to dive deeper into the genre than we normally would, including some fantastic pieces on the genre. This month we're going regional, specifically focusing in on Finland and its video game scene.

When it came to discussing potential monthly focuses, one of the first things that came up was this month's ten year anniversay of Angry Birds. Rovio's incredibly popular, long-running physics brand is an IP which is instrinsicly tied to the popularity of mobile gaming, and - love them or hate them - the birds are here to stay. However, even though the angry avians are a hallmark of mobile gaming, its their homeland - Finland - that we've chosen to focus on this month.

As we suck in the digital air of the digital future of 2019 - almost twenty years on from that point in time where a large portion of the western world thought that a computing flaw in how they displayed dates might spell the end of civilisation -  it might seem a bit strange to hone in on a geographic location. However, regardless of the fact that many of us spend most of our lives online, geographical location continues to tie into game development in a series of crucial ways; From funding through to local communities.

Finland is easily one of the best example of regional culture benefiting a national mobile games development scene, with the Northern European country home to internationally known companys such as Rovio, Hatch, Futureplay and more. There's a community there, especially in the capital, Helsinki, which breeds a better regional community - and that's a key part of we will be celebrating this month.

So, this December, keep your eyes peeled for interviews, features and more on the mobile games industry of Finland. For now though, why not check out some of the videos from our buisness-focused sister-site Pocketgamer.biz? 2014 was a long time ago, but part 1, part 2 and part 3 of their Finnish Mobile Games History panel is a great starting point for the curious.