– The myth that this is something that exists in the boys’ room is still alive. That’s what Erik Hofftun, board representative for the Norwegian gaming industry in the producer association Virke, says. Virke and the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI) recently presented this year’s gaming report. Erik Hoftun is board representative for the games industry in Virke Produsentforening. He is also the founder and CEO of Snowcastle Games. Photo: Camilla Alexandra Lie / news It looks, among other things, at the development, turnover and size of the Norwegian gaming industry. The report shows that Norwegian computer games have millions of players worldwide. But Norway is still the least in the Scandinavian context. “Ikonei Island: An Earthlock Adventure” is one of this year’s new Norwegian computer games. The game is developed by Snowcastle Games in Oslo. Photo: Camilla Alexandra Lie / news Sweden is the largest and last year had a turnover of NOK 27 billion in computer games. In comparison, Norway had a turnover of 443 million. The Swedish gaming industry thus earns more than sixty times as much from the sale of computer games as the Norwegian one. Most of the turnover comes from exports abroad. “Minecraft” is the world’s best-selling game, and comes from Sweden. Photo: Microsoft/PA Norway has fallen off the load Norwegian politicians and business actors have been talking about lifting the industry since the government’s first gambling announcement came in 2008. And despite the fact that all the Scandinavian countries started with a fairly similar starting point, Norway has lagged behind the later ones the years. How could this happen? Erik Hoftun presents the report in the premises of Snowcastle Games. Photo: Camilla Alexandra Lie / news – I think we have focused on completely different things. This applies both on the industrial side, on the business side and in the public sector. We haven’t realized how big this is, says Hofftun. Because games are big: Norway may be small in the world context, but at the same time games are Norway’s biggest cultural export. – Even at the small level we are in Norway, we export more in our industry than film has ever done, Hofftun points out. – Games have been a thing for 50 years now. It is time we actually see that this is a big industry, he continues. Although the industry is small, several Norwegian games have excelled abroad. Including “My Child Lebensborn”, which won a BAFTA award in 2019. Photo: Sarepta Games/Teknopilot / Catharina hlhliuhih An industry in slow growth Although things are slow, the Norwegian games industry is growing. The number of employees in the Norwegian game development industry has doubled in five years, the recent game report shows. Nine Norwegian games were also released last year, almost twice as many as in 2020. Nevertheless, the turnover growth was no more than 0.8 per cent. Morten Larssen has worked with computer games since the 90s. Photo: Ronja Elise Bredholt Schrøder / news – There is a bit of a rest on the spot. It’s a weak growth, but then you’ve also released almost twice as many games, says Morten Larssen. Larssen has worked in the games industry since the 90s, previously for the Norwegian game giant Funcom. Now he is sales director at the Swedish games company RawFury, which also publishes several Norwegian games. He believes there are complex reasons why the Norwegian gaming industry has not been as successful as the Swedish one. – If we are to see this as an industry and ensure that it grows as an industry, as Sweden and Finland have managed, then it is the Ministry of Industry, Innovation Norway and a whole lot of other actors who must understand that this is one of the biggest industries in the world, he says. “Age of Conan” was launched by the Norwegian company Funcom in 2008. It was for a long time the world’s most played multiplayer role-playing game. Photo: Funcom/Eidos Larssen believes that the current support schemes for game development work, but that it does not last. – Today’s cultural support is an OK start, but it is not what will make us a competitive industry if we want to compete with Nordic giants such as Sweden and Finland, says Larssen. Must get money from abroad He believes that the business world must get on board and that Norwegian gaming companies must actively work to acquire investors, also from abroad. – They must have good financial plans for their company. And they must not think only of Norway, because there is a lot of money out there. You have to talk to those who are used to and willing to invest in gaming companies, says Larssen and continues: – Norwegian companies often have a tendency to think project by project, and not about their company as a whole. Mobile gaming is also a large part of the gaming industry. “Candy Crush” is one of several Swedish mobile games that have gone viral. Photo: CARLO ALLEGRI / Reuters This is where we differ from the Swedes, who are more able to think of gaming as a business, he believes. – The Swedes build companies with several projects and present them to investors all over the world. He adds that producing computer games that hit the mark is not about luck and chance. – It’s just as much about the number of games produced, and hence see who hits and who doesn’t. New gambling announcement in 2023 news has asked questions to the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Trade and Fisheries about why the Norwegian gambling industry has fallen behind. Both ministries indicate that a new gambling notice is just around the corner and will be launched in early 2023. According to State Secretary Anne Marit Bjørnflaten in the Ministry of Trade and Fisheries, the government has “high ambitions” for the gambling industry. – The goal is to make it more attractive to produce computer games in Norway, and contribute to increased value creation and more jobs in the Norwegian computer game industry. We will make arrangements to give the companies good framework conditions and tools in dialogue with the industry, and appreciate all good input, writes Bjørnflaten in an e-mail to news.
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– We haven’t realized how big this is – news Culture and entertainment
