As 2026 begins with new events and prospects, it’s timely to reflect on what last year’s professional gatherings offered to Finland’s game development community. Shrinking opportunities and challenging market conditions made the year difficult for game studios both globally and in Finland (Neogames 2025, 6–7; 18–19). Yet sparks of hope emerged, most notably through Finnish Games Week 2025, which took over Helsinki at the beginning of last October.
What is Finnish Games Week?
The Finnish Games Week brand brought together three main events: Leadership Day, focusing on responsible leadership and collaboration within the industry; PG Connects, an international business-to-business (B2B) conference that connects the Finnish games community to global business networks; and the We Love Games conference, which celebrates diversity, inclusion, and peer support. Each event, while retaining its own character, forms part of a unified programme that highlights the strengths of Finland’s game sector. Find out more about the Finnish Games Week on the event website.
Topics covered ranged from leadership, business development, and investment to cross-cultural collaboration, emerging technologies, and career entry points. The events included expert talks, business matchmaking, and community workshops, fostering both professional growth and a spirit of shared learning. Organised by We Love Games in partnership with IGDA Finland, Steel Media, and the Finnish Game Developers’ Association, Finnish Games Week blends commercial and non-profit collaboration, offering accessible participation and strengthening Finland’s position as a major games industry hub. (Steel Media Ltd 2025a; IGDA Finland 2025a; We Love Games 2025.)
© Ria Gynther
Why do we need collaborative industry events like this?
The Finnish game industry is navigating a period of change, and new funding and business opportunities are more crucial than ever, especially for small and mid-size studios. The global downturn in the games sector has been felt hard in Finland; some business models have become less viable, partly due to policy shifts and the freezing of investments after the Covid-driven, artificial market uplift, which contributed to the post-pandemic slowdown. (Neogames 2025, 6.) This has affected smaller teams with limited runway and has also pushed established companies, such as Redhill Games, Ubisoft RedLynx and Rovio, to begin restructuring and layoff processes.
Investment figures for the most recent period have not yet been released, but the contrast with previous years is already clear: while Finnish studios raised over €300 million in disclosed investments in 2021–2022, the combined total for 2023–2024 dropped to just €128 million (Neogames 2025, 7).
Against this backdrop, events like Finnish Games Week play a vital role in reconnecting the ecosystem, opening new doors, and supporting the resilience of the industry as a whole. Collaborative industry events are not a new phenomenon in the Finnish game development community, which is known for its culture of knowledge sharing and supportive atmosphere. In a relatively small, open industry, the impact of personal encounters, peer learning, and low-threshold partnership opportunities is essential for growth. Most such events take place at a national level, mainly facilitated by IGDA Finland hubs that are spread across the country (IGDA Finland 2025b).
To fully benefit from the industry’s international nature, collaborations with global players and well-known brands such as PG Connects bring much-needed international exposure and new opportunities to the local scene. Moreover, many Finnish game companies are now increasingly interested in the B2B subcontracting market, which requires access to new international networks and partnerships (Neogames 2025, 19). Events that bring together a wide range of global actors are thus especially valuable, helping local businesses diversify their operations and secure new business opportunities.
Creating value beyond the official programme
The most valuable business opportunities and meaningful knowledge sharing at these types of events often happen outside the official conference programme. Informal encounters, whether at after-parties, coffee breaks, the expo area, or fringe sessions, enable candid conversations and fresh connections (Kultima 2018, 63–65; 136). From a business standpoint, pre-booked B2B meetings are essential, and PG Connects supported this with a dedicated matchmaking system and space for focused collaboration (Steel Media Ltd 2025b). They also organised Investor Connector, a dedicated session to connect studios with investors and venture capitalists (Steel Media Ltd 2025c).
Meanwhile, Leadership Day and We Love Games fostered person-to-person engagement by offering structured mentorship opportunities, such as the Mentorship Café, and in the case of We Love Games, portfolio and CV reviews. These formats ensure that, beyond the headline talks, participants gain access to genuine peer support, practical advice, and new professional networks. Each event also included its own afterparty, bringing the programme to a relaxed close (IGDA Finland 2025a; We Love Games 2025).
Turning the gaze to the year ahead
From a participant’s perspective, Finnish Games Week 2025 offered powerful evidence that coming together matters. Sharing experiences and ideas helps support developers, strengthen the ecosystem, and build global connections. The event recognised the challenges the industry faces right now. Still, it provided new perspectives and inspired people to keep moving forward, even when business cycles decline.
Looking ahead to 2026, it’s clear that the kind of collaboration experienced at Finnish Games Week will remain essential as we face new challenges and possibilities. Most of the week’s conference content is freely available online. Perhaps revisiting these topics and expert talks will spark new energy and outlook for the events of 2026. You can find the links below.
References
Finnish Games Week 2025. WELCOME TO FINNISH GAMES WEEK 2025. Accessed 7 October 2025.
IGDA Finland 2025a. Leadership Day by IGDA Finland. Accessed 22 October 2025.
IGDA Finland 2025b. Hubs. Accessed 19 February 2026.
Kultima, A. 2018. Game Design Praxiology. Doctoral dissertation, University of Tampere. Studies and Interactive Media, Faculty of Communication Sciences.
Neogames 2025. The game industry of Finland report 2024 (pdf). Accessed 10 February 2026.
Steel Media Ltd 2025a. Finnish Games Week. Accessed 7 October 2025.
Steel Media Ltd 2025b. PGC Helsinki. Accessed 22 October 2025.
Steel Media Ltd 2025c. Event Overview. Accessed 22 October 2025.
W Love Games 2025. W Love Games 2025. Accessed 7 October 2025.
Author
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Ria Gynther
Project Coordinator, Metropolia UASAn a all-rounder in the game industry, engaged with the field and its topics since 2017.
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