Across Europe, game developers grow through cross-border mentorships, shared know-how, and the everyday conversations that spark when people from different countries meet. Yet the regional hubs and clusters that sustain these networks have long operated mostly in silos, each doing valuable work without a shared structure to amplify it.
The Interreg Baltic Sea Region project BSG-Go! (Baltic Sea Games Go!), which concluded at the end of 2025, set out to change that. Over three years, the project brought together 13 partners from across the Baltic Sea Region to strengthen the support ecosystems that early-stage game companies depend on. Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, through its Helsinki XR Center, was one of those partners.
The case for regional collaboration
Game development in the Baltic Sea Region has long punched above its weight, producing globally recognised titles and technologies. Yet the hubs, incubators, and clusters that support emerging developers have typically operated in regional silos. These organisations mentor early-stage studios, connect them with investors, and help them navigate the complex business of making games.
BSG-Go! challenged that model. Its central insight was that a resilient game industry requires resilient support systems, and that resilience comes from connection. Regional hubs face common challenges: limited resources, the difficulty of identifying and attracting investors and publishers for early-stage companies, and the need for professional mentoring. No single hub can address all of this alone, but a network of hubs can.
One of the project’s most lasting achievements is The League — the European Network of Game Developer Hubs. With 20 core members and four associated members drawn from across Europe, The League provides a living platform for knowledge exchange, joint activities, and shared learning. Metropolia was part of the consortium that helped found it and it has been designed from the outset to continue beyond BSG-Go!, with its own governance and an active community committed to making it grow.
© Heikki Laaninen
Spotlight: helping to access the investors
Alongside The League, BSG-Go! developed the Spotlight platform, a curated tool designed to help early-stage game studios connect with investors and publishers in a more structured, trusted way. The challenge it addresses is a familiar one: access to investment in the game industry has historically depended too much on chance encounters at conferences and the luck of knowing the right people. Spotlight replaces that with a system of curated recommendations, allowing studios to be discovered by investors based on quality and fit rather than proximity or personal connections.
From Metropolia’s side, we contributed to Spotlight’s development and piloting, testing it in real contexts and refining the approach based on what we observed. The platform continues under the stewardship of East Sweden Game, another BSG-Go! partner, ensuring that the work invested in its development has a clear future.
What we carry forward
BSG-Go! has concluded, but its outputs have not. The League continues to grow, Spotlight is operational, and the connections formed between partner organisations keep generating value. Most importantly, the project proved something worth remembering: regional game hubs are stronger when they connect, and the problems they face are too similar and the solutions too resource-intensive for each hub to solve alone.
Author
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Heikki Laaninen
Project Manager, Metropolia University of Applied SciencesHeikki Laaninen is a Project Manager at Helsinki XR Center, operated by Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, with a background in entrepreneurship, international business, and the creative industries.
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