Swedish game developers are doing really well: they pulled in more than $2 billion in revenue in 2018 alone, a 33% increase when compared to the numbers for 2017. The industry is employing more people than ever before in the wintery European nation, but it’s not all good news.
GamesIndustry.biz has reported on some numbers that have come out about the games industry in Sweden. While their revenue is pretty solid and they’re now employing over 8,000 people across the country, they’ve also encountered some downsides. Profits are down 25% compared to the previous year.
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Profits of Swedish game developers being down isn’t necessarily a bad thing, mind. To put it simply, profit is any money leftover after expenses. Reinvestment, long-term costs, opening new offices, and any number of other things could result in overall lower profits without necessarily signaling a downturn in the industry. Considering the formation of 11% more development companies and 48% more employees since 2017, it’s possible that a good portion of this money has gone into new offices and paying for the costs of hiring new employees.
While many of the biggest developers are in the United States, Sweden is not without its heavy hitters. It is, after all, the nation that gave birth to Markus “Notch” Persson’s company Mojang, the people behind Minecraft. Avalanche Studios, EA DICE, King, Paradox Interactive, and other similarly-large companies call Sweden their home.
It isn’t all sunshine and lollipops for Sweden’s game devs, though. Starbreeze Studios was raided by government authorities in late 2018, and it came pretty close to shutting down entirely in May of 2019.
Despite the troubles faced by some Swedish game developers, the nation as a whole is doing pretty well in the gaming industry. A lot of exciting projects are in the works and money is flowing into the country: more than $250 million has either been invested into companies or used to acquire them. Sweden’s game devs are on fire and it seems that the trend shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.
