Game Developer Index 2022

DATASPELSBRANSCHEN
Swedish Games Industry
Game Developer Index 2022

First Edition
October 2022
Published by The Swedish Games Industry
Research: Viktor Wollstad, Magdalena Annell
Layout: Emilie Ihre
Illustration, Cover: Henrik Rosenborg
Text & Analysis: Kajsa Grafström
Translation: Tracy Rylance, Viktor Wollstad
Editor: Johanna Nylander
The Swedish Games Industry is a collaboration between

trade organizations ANGI and Spelplan-ASGD. ANGI
represents publishers and distributors and Spelplan-
ASGD represents developers and producers.
Dataspelsbranschen | Swedish Games Industry
Magnus Ladulåsgatan 3, SE-116 35 Stockholm
www.swedishgamesindustry.com
Contact: johanna.nylander@dataspelsbranschen.se

Key Figures2021202020192018 2017
Number of
companies 785 (+15%)
667 (+12%)586 (+13%)513 (+14%) 442 (+12%)
Domestic Revenue
MEUR Swedish
companies 2,713 (+22%)
2,115 (+20%)1,682 (+17%)1,393 (+3%) 1,351 (+4%)
Global Revenue
MEUR Swedish
companies 5,805 (+43%)
3,311 (+30%)2,318 (+19%)1,871 (+25%) 1,403 (+6%)
Revenue per employee
in Sweden TEUR 342 (+6%)
321 (+11%)284 (+8%)262 (-10%) 289 (-20%)
Domestic Result
Swedish companies
MEUR 288 (-56%)
630 (+42%)369 (+26%)273 (-37%) 434 (-50%)
Result in Swedish
companies globally
MEUR -123 (-117%)
720 (+32%)493 (+32%)335 (-25%) 446 (-49%)
Number of employees
in Sweden 7,944 (+17%)
6,596 (+10%)5,925 (+11%)5,317 (+14%) 4,670 (+25%)
Men 6,169 (77,7%)5,186 (78,6%)4,699 (79%)4,286 (80%) 3,821 (82%)
Women 1,755 (22,1%)1,410 (21,4%)1,226 (21%)1,036 (20%) 849 (18%)
Number of employees
in Swedish companies
abroad 11,158 (+36%)
7,177 (+55%)3,253 (+20%)2,604 (+74%) 668 (+19%)
Key Figures
Key figures from the last five years. Change from previous years in brackets. We have used the aggregated
annual exchange rate defined by the Riksbank, Sweden’s central bank. In 2021 1 EUR was 10.1449 SEK.

4 FOREWORD
INTERMEDIARY
distribution
servers
PRODUCER
design

development
concept CONSUMER
streamers
market places community
Value Chain with
a Smile
This report is primarily about jobs and money, which
are both created in abundance by the video games in-
dustry. But behind it all there is something else, namely
joy. On the one hand, there is the creative joy felt by the
artists and developers behind the games. While game
development can be an arduous pursuit full of difficult
issues and hard work, what drives game developers is
passion and love for what they do. On the other hand,
there is the joy felt by the players, which of course is
the very reason for playing: to have fun on your own or
together with others.
But video games do not only put a smile on the face
of the people making and playing them, they also put a
smile on the face of the value chain. To explain this, we
need to consider the concept of the ‘smiling curve’, an
economic theory which can be applied to games. A value chain is usually represented by an arrow or a
line with the producer on the left end and the consumer
on the right end. In the middle are various intermediar-
ies such as distributors, wholesalers, retailers, etc. The
‘smiling curve’ appears when you model a y-axis show-
ing how much value is added in the various stages of
the chain. As it turns out, most value is added at the two
ends of the chain, closest to the producer and closest to
the consumer. Therefore, the line bends like an inverted
arc, or indeed a “smiley face”. At the start of the value chain, there are complex pro-
cesses such as concept, innovation, tools development,
design, content development and other things that
require creativity, specialized skills, and large resources.
Here the risk is high and thus also the potential added
value. These processes are difficult to automate or out-
source. When you consider video games, this is where
the game itself is made, in a creative process which goes through trial and error and where many ideas are
often scrapped along the way. The game emerges in an
iterative process where content is incrementally added
to the game and tested to make sure it is good enough
to contribute to the playing experience.
At the middle of the value chain are things like manu-
facturing and logistics – operations which, once estab-
lished, are standardized, can be automated to a large
extent, outsourced, and exposed to competition. When
it comes to video games, these processes often include
servers and telecommunications networks, businesses
characterised by large volumes and small profit mar-
gins, i.e., small (but necessary!) addition of value.
Towards the end of the value chain, the curve turns
upwards. Here you will find things such as marketing,
sales, branding and customer relations, i.e., commu-
nication in various forms. Communication requires
people, who cost more than machines, and add greater
value. In games, these include things like game launch –
es, streamers, trailers, digital retailers, and customer
support.

Table of Contents
Footnote 1: The ‘smiling curve’ was first described circa 1992 by Stan Shih at the
Taiwanese computer company Acer.
Footnote 2: The National Board of Trade has done a detailed analysis of value
chains in Minecraft using the ‘smiling curve’ theory in the report Minecraft
Brick by Brick (2013).
Foreword
People are thus most prominent at the beginning and
end of the value chain. The closer to the ‘corners of the
mouth’, the more jobs, the more value, and the more
money. In the middle and bottom of the ‘lower lip’,
many of the processes are automated, and the value is
low. According to this theory, companies should strive
to have as much of their business at the beginning and
end of the value chain, where profitability is greatest,
and the corners of the mouth smile the biggest. Just like
the video game companies do. The value chains of video games didn’t evolve this
way because we learned about the ‘smiling curve’
theory. However, the model fits perfectly to describe
the business of video game companies. The fact that
companies follow an economic model that provides the
greatest possible value may be part of the answer to
why this report once again shows new record figures
for the industry’s turnover, employment numbers, and
tax contributions. But the most important reason is, of
course, the fun for the players and the hard work and
passion of the game creators. What follows from this is
a happy, ‘smiling’ value chain.
Stockholm, October 2022
Per Strömbäck
CEO Swedish Games Industry
5
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022
Key Figures 3
Foreword 4
Summary 6
Revenue and Results 8
Highlights 10
Employees 12
Number of Companies 14
Inclusion and Gender Distribution 16
Largest Companies 20
Business Groups and the
Stock Exchange 22
Guest Chapter: The Development
of Public Game Companies 24
Game Developer Map – Sweden 28
Swedish Game Companies
Around the Globe 34
Game Developer Map – Global 36
Aquisitions and Investments 40
World Market 44
Game Developer Educations 46
Entrepreneurship and National
Collaborations 48
Games Industry in Europe 52
Guest Chapter: The Clash of
the Titans Enables Trend Shift 54
Sustainability 57
Threats and Challenges 58
Methodology 60
Glossary 63

6 SUMMARY
The Game Developer Index maps, reports and analyzes
Swedish game companies’ operations and international
industry trends during the past year by compiling the
companies’ annual reports.
Summary
Swedish game development is an export industry
that operates in a largely global market. The games
industry has grown over a few decades from a hobby
for enthusiasts to a worldwide industry with cultural
and economic significance. The Game Developer Index
2022 compiles the Swedish companies’ most recently
reported financial year (2021). The report in brief:
• The Swedish games industry’s turnover grew to EUR
2.7 billion in 2021, which is an increase of 22% for the
Swedish-registered companies. Including the non
Swedish subsidiaries the industry had a turnover of
EUR 5.8 billion, an increase of 41%.
• A total of 1,755 positions at games companies in the
country are held by women, this corresponds to a
share of just over 22%.
• Swedish game companies are growing, employing
7,944 people on site in Sweden and 11,158 people
abroad. The difficulty of recruiting staff in Sweden
persists and an increasing part of Swedish compa-
nies’ expansion consists of establishing or acquiring
development studios abroad. In Sweden, the num-
ber of employees increased by 1,348 people, an
increase of 17%.
• 93 companies started in 2021, these together with
25 newly added older companies that changed operations to game development, resulting in 785
active companies in December 2021, an increase of
15% compared to 2020.
• In 2021, 81 investments and acquisitions were repor-
ted, five of which had a business value above the
100 million EUR mark. In 77 of the cases, Swedish
companies were buyers and in 31 of the transactions,
Swedish companies were sellers.
• The ten most profitable companies together paid
over EUR 120 million in corporate tax on their profits.
• The ten largest employers have paid a total of almost
EUR 200 million in payroll taxes.
• 21 Swedish companies are listed on the stock ex-
change in Sweden. Together, they had sales of
EUR 3.6 billion in 2021.
Game development is a growth industry. 14 of the com-
panies that exist today have existed since the nineties,
but just over half of all companies have been registered
in the last five years. In 2021, 93 new companies were
registered. The games are launched directly to an
international market with strong growth and the supply
of skills to a large extent also comes from a global
labour market. Factors that point to continued growth
are more investments in regional hubs with incubators,

7
5.8
Swedish companies revenue globally including
foreign subsidiaries was 5.8 billlion EUR during
2021. An increase of 43%.
to leave one’s everyday life and step into worlds where
only the imagination sets the limits.
The number of ‘second generation companies’ where
experienced game developers have gone ahead with
new personal projects, or where business leaders have
created their second company continues to increase. The number of investments and acquisitions where
Swedish companies are buyers is increasing. In total,
a Swedish company was the main financier in 77 out
of 81 game-related transactions in 2021. One third of
these were acquisitions and investments entirely in the
Swedish market. Successful companies are increasingly reinvesting
into the industry, and often in the Swedish market.
According to a report on investments in Europe in the
games industry from Sifted (sifted.eu), Sweden came in
third place out of the countries where the most invest-
ments had been made.
Flamebait Games – Passpartout 2
accelerators and educations, more veterans starting
new companies and the fact that we have not yet seen
the effects of the several and large investments and
acquisitions during recent years. Swedish game developers are characterised by depth
and quality. Sweden has world-leading developers in
AAA, console, PC, mobile games, VR /AR, digital distribu –
tion and specialised subcontractors. The industry’s biggest challenges are the availability
of skills and access to capital, the latter not least in the
early stages, as well as laws and regulations regarding
digital markets that are out of step with developments.
The most important question for the future is about
diversity, both among the game creators and the play-
ers. Although there has been a rapid development in
recent years, there is still a lot of work to be done. In the
longer term, computer games have all the prerequisites
for diversity and inclusion, games offer an opportunity
2.7
The revenue for the Swedish Games Industry grew
to 2.7 billion EUR during 2021, an increase with 22%.
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

8 REVENUE AND RESULTS
Swedish game companies have continued to grow in 2021,
increasing sales by 19.4% to EUR 2.7 billion. This is an increase
of more than EUR 500 million.
Revenue and Results
2.7
2.1
1.7
1.4
1.4
1.2
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.4 3.1
1.2
0.6
0.5
0.1
2021
2020
2019
2018
2016 2017
2012 201320142015
Revenue in Billion EUR
Revenue Swedish companies in Sweden
Revenue Swedish companies globally
In recent years, a couple of large business groups have
grown larger through investments and acquisitions,
and a significant part of the acquisitions has taken
place outside Sweden. In total, Swedish companies and
groups have a turnover of almost EUR 6 billion globally.
In previous reports, sales numbers from the consoli –
dated financial statements have been the basis for the
number of total sales. Following evaluation of similar
reports within Europe, we have from this year chosen
to report domestic group turnover based on parent
companies and Swedish subsidiaries. Total group
turnover, including foreign subsidiaries, is reported
separately in global sales. This gives a fairer picture of how Swedish companies
are doing and produces a comparable report both with
other domestic industries and the same industry in
other countries. Comparative figures from previous years have been
revised up to and including 2016 to give a fair picture of
growth. In the global competition, the companies have
successfully gained market shares, attracted expertise
and not least, created gaming experiences for several
hundred million players worldwide.
A Growing Industry
With 93 new companies, the Swedish industry is grow –
ing steadily and over the past decade it has increased
turnover from just over EUR 300 million to almost EUR
2.7 billion in domestic companies and EUR 5.8 billion
when the foreign subsidiaries are included. In 2021,
sales were for the first time higher for the Swed –
ish-owned foreign companies than the turnover in the
Swedish-registered companies; this is an effect of the
many large acquisitions that took place during the year
outside Sweden. The pandemic has continued to affect the indus –
try in 2021. Several development projects have been
delayed and it remains to be seen what long-term

9
effects it has had on the industry. A longer analysis
of the pandemic’s impact can be found in the chapter
Threats and Challenges.
Domestic Revenue and Results
Seven of the Swedish companies had sales of more
than EUR 100 million during the year. The ten largest
companies account for just over 70% of total sales and
in addition to the billion-dollar companies, 31 compa –
nies have sales of more than EUR 10 million. The Swed –
ish companies are profitable overall, although earnings
have been decreasing compared with previous years. Investments and write-offs and write-downs of de –
velopment projects have had a major impact on the reported earnings. The ten most profitable
companies have paid in almost 50 million EUR in tax
and the largest employers have paid in around EUR
100 million in social security contributions. King and Mojang have both had sales of over EUR
500 million and are thus the largest companies in
Sweden. The games industry is an export industry, and like
all Swedish exports, it has benefited from the low
SEK exchange rate vis-à-vis other currencies. This is particularly noticeable in good turnover figures, but
sales in Euro terms have also increased by 22 percent
Despite the continuously weak SEK. Furthermore,
several companies have made large investments, which
of course affect earnings. A more detailed review of
investments in the Swedish industry can be found in
the chapter Acquisitions and Investments.
Revenue and Result Globally
In 2021, turnover in the Swedish-owned foreign compa
–
nies was higher than the turnover in the domestically
owned companies, an effect of the large acquisitions
that took place during the year. Embracer Group has had sales of over EUR 1.7 billion
this year, a growth of 90% from the previous year,
which means that the Karlstad based company contin –
ues to be the country’s largest business group in game
development, and one of the largest games groups in
Europe. Globally, reported earnings during the year were
negative for the first time in eleven years. One expla –
nation for this is large investments and write-downs on
previous development projects among several of the
larger companies.
Sharkmob – Bloodhunt
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

10 HIGHLIGHTS
The number of Swedish-developed games that are released varies from
year to year, but nowadays the industry has such a wide range that
individual titles do not determine the overall outcome. Here are some
examples of major events in 2021 and early 2022.
Highlights
• Embracer Group continued to grow by acquiring sev-
eral companies around the world and now consists
of 130 studios and owns around 850 IPs and brands.
In early 2021, Embracer acquired American Gearbox
Software, the creator of well-known games such
as Borderlands and Brothers in Arms. The Swedish
operating group Coffee Stain is the publisher of
the independent Skövde studio Iron Gate, which in
January 2021 released the game Valheim. A game that
in the first year was a huge success and sold over
ten million copies. In August 2022, the news broke
that Embracer group had bought American Middle
earth-Enterprises and thus has global rights to Tol-
kien’s fantasy work The Lord of the Rings.
• King continues steadily moving forward. Candy Crush
Saga, along with the company’s other games, has 250
million players every month. The Swedish company
reported sales of EUR 547million.
• Mojang continues to have stable sales and Minecraft
continues to be the world’s best-selling game with
over 240 million copies sold and 93 million players
every month in 2021.
• Stillfront has had continued good growth and in 2021
acquired several game studios such as Game Labs
and Jawaker and the group now consists of 22 game
studios around the world.
• G5 Entertainment, which in 2021 celebrated 20 years
as a group, has a continued stable position in the
Hazelight Studios – It Takes Two
Expansive Worlds – Call of the Wild: The Angler

11
mobile games segment; the company has a turnover
above the billion mark for the fifth year in a row. With
a wide catalog of games including Hidden City, Mah-
jong Solitaire, and Jewels of Rome, the company had
6.5 million active players (MAUs) at the end of 2021.
• Paradox Interactive started 2021 after having its
best year ever both in terms of sales and earnings,
but in 2021 sales and profit margin decreased com-
pared to previous years. During the year, Paradox
has released several expansions to existing games
and expanded to several platforms.
• Skövde-based Stunlock Studios released their vam-
pire game V Rising in 2022. Already in the first week,
the game sold over one million copies and after a
month sales had doubled.
• Raw Fury has enjoyed continued solid growth during
the year, has invested heavily in more indie game
projects, and in the summer of 2021 opened two art
galleries, one in Stockholm and one in Croatian Za-
greb. In August 2021, the investment company Altor
acquired a majority stake in Raw Fury and bought out
the former co-owner Nordisk Games. 
• Avalanche Studios Group had several major
successes during the past year. In addition to the an-
nouncement of the new roguelite game Ravenbound ,
both Generation Zero and Second Extinction (all from
Systemic Reaction) reached over a million players.
In addition, the fishing game Call of the Wild: The Angler was released while the hunting game theHunter:
Call of the Wild (both from Expansive Worlds) passed
revenues of over 100 million EUR since its launch
in 2017. In the summer of 2021, Avalanche Studios
announced its ambitious open world game Contraband

published by Xbox Game Studios, and since 2015,
Avalanche Studios Group has had an average annual
growth in total revenue of approximately 25 percent.
• Ubisoft Entertainment was, like last year, the coun-
try’s largest employer with 837 employees. In January
2021, Ubisoft announced that Massive will be making
Star Wars games in partnership with LucasArts. The
studio is already working on the upcoming Avatar:
Frontiers of Pandora alongside Lightstorm Entertain-
ment and FoxNext Games as well as on Tom Clancy’s
The Division series
• In March 2021, Hazelight Studios released the game
It Takes Two, which has already sold over seven million
copies and won several awards, including Game of the
Year.
During the year, several Swedish game companies were
awarded prizes at various galas. Hazelight Studios It
Takes Two won Game of the Year at The Game awards and
Fatshark won Best Multiplayer Game with Warhammer
40,000: Darktide at the Gamescom award 2022.
The above list is not exhaustive, there are many more
examples of successes for Swedish companies over the
past year.
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

12 EMPLOYEES
The number of employees in the games industry in Sweden
increased by 17% in 2021 to 7,944 people. This corresponds to
1,348 new full-time positions.
Employees
At the same time, almost 4,000 full- time positions
abroad were added in Swedish-owned companies,
mainly due to acquisitions.
The largest employers in Sweden are Ubisoft and EA
DICE, both of which employ over 700 people. 20 compa-
nies have over 100 employees in Sweden. In addition to employees in Sweden, Swedish-owned
companies have over 11,000 employees around the
world outside Sweden, and a total of 19,055 people are
employed by a Swedish- owned game development
company. More about this in the chapter on Swedish
game companies in the world. The number of employees is based on the average
number of full-time employees in the annual reports
throughout the financial year. This means that the
actual number of workers in the industry is in many
cases higher due to the fact that many companies that
expanded in 2021 have had more employees at the end
of the year than at the beginning of the year. To the extent that the information has been available, the
number of employees in December 2021 has been
used as a reference to better reflect the changes made
during the year. When it comes to employees abroad,
offices and employees are only represented in coun-
tries where the Swedish company has reported they
have subsidiaries.
Smaller offices, such as individual marketing offices
or other forms of business offices, often run on a con-
sulting basis, have not been represented. These have
a very small impact on the total number of employees,
we have also excluded employees at foreign market-
ing offices based in Sweden. In addition to the reported numbers, there are
people in other types of companies, people in com-
panies that have not yet submitted annual reports,
and freelancers and consultants who are not includ –
ed as employees in the companies’ annual reports.
Taking these unreported figures into account, the real
2012 201320142015201620172018201920202021
11,158
7,177
3,253
2,604
7,944
6,596
5,925
5,925
4,670
3,750
3,439
3,117
2,534
1,967
668
541 Employees in Swedish Companies
Employees in Sweden
Employees in Swedish companies abroad
271

13
numbers are higher. For example, there are 306
sole traders registered under computer games.In the survey The south Swedish game devel-
opment industry 2022 (Game Habitat), 87% stated
that they had permanent full-time employment.
Almost no employees work on a part-time basis. There is still a high demand for labour in all
occupational categories, which is holding back
the growth of companies, not least when it comes
to hiring on site in Sweden. This is evident as
the companies expand, and Embracer Group,
StillfrontGroup, EG7 and G5 Entertainment are
examples of companies that employ more people abroad than in
Sweden. An overview of all Swedish-owned game
studios can be found in the game developer world
map further on in the report.
Design: 20%
Production: 9%
QA: 5%
Audio: 3%
Other: 15%
Programming: 21%
Art: 26%
Professions in the Industry 15%
3%
5%
9%
20% 26%
21%
Distribution of professional roles
in the industry, from The south Swedish game development
industry 2022 (Game Habitat)
women working in the European
games industry
8,026
15,000
10,071
9,710
6,000
6,596
20,780
22%
98,219
worked with games in Europe in 2020
Largest Employee Bases
in Europe 2020
Source: EGDF & ISFE
Survey 2022 (Data
from Sweden from
Game Developer
Index 2021)
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

14 NUMBER OF COMPANIES
Number of Companies
The total number of companies is now 785. 192 compa-
nies are more than 10 years old.
Data on the number of companies has been acquired
through Statistic Sweden’s business register, game
companies that we gain knowledge about through
contacts and through manually looking at all companies
with NACE code 58.210 – Publishing of computer games.
Other Types of Businesses
In 2021, there were 306 sole traders, 33 trading partner-
ships and eight economic associations registered under
NACE 58.210 Publishing of computer games. Of the sole traders, 95 reported sales in 2021.
In 2021, 93 new games companies were registered
and 25 companies changed operations to conduct
game development, an increase of 15%.
Nine companies reported a turnover of more than half
a million and only three sole traders had a turnover of
more than one million. 17 firms were run by women,
four of these reported a positive turnover, none over
half a million.
Of the trading companies, ten reported a positive
turnover. Several of the companies that were registered under
58.210 and had operations in 2020 did things other
than games. In addition to these, we have knowledge
of about 40 companies that make games or content for
games that are registered under other NACE codes. Some of these can be found on the Game Developer
Map on page 28.
785
667
586
513
442
389
321
268
217
187
2021
2020
2019
2018
2016 2017
2012 201320142015
Number of Companies in Sweden

15
39,6%48,5%
1,0%
2,5%
8,3%
Solo companies
Without employees, <2M EUR revenue
Micro companies
<10employees, <2M EUR revenue
Small companies
10-49 employees, <10M EUR revenue
Mid-sized companies
50-199 employees, 200 employees, >50M EUR revenue
Amount of Companies by Size
Number of Employees and Revenue
by Company Type
A large percentage of companies in the industry are
small. Just under half have no employees and a quarter
of the companies lacked sales in 2021. The categorization is based on the EU definition
of company size, but we have changed the definition
of solo companies to companies completely without
employees (the EU also includes companies where the
owner is employed), and medium-sized companies are
between 50-199 employees instead of 50-249 people.
This is due to how the data has been reported from Sta-
tistics Sweden. In this compilation, we have used a fixed
exchange rate of SEK 10 per EUR for the sake of clarity. The compilation shows that the largest proportion
of companies in the industry are small. The solo and
micro companies together make up 88% of all compa-
nies in the industry. 21 companies employ more than 50
people. 38 companies in the industry had a turnover of
more than EUR 10 million in 2020. The number of solo companies has increased but the
share remains at 48% just as in 2020, micro companies
have also increased in number but also in share to 40%,
a large number of the new companies that have been
added during the year are solo or micro companies.
This year, the larger companies have not been repre-
sented as collective conglomerates but rather as indi –
vidual parent and subsidiary companies. This has led to
the share of large companies having decreased to 1%.
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

16 INCLUSION AND GENDER DISTRIBUTION
In 2021, both the number and proportion of women working in
the games industry increased. In total, there were 1,755 women in
Sweden who worked with game development, which corresponds to
22.1% of the employees in the domestic industry, an increase of 345
people compared to previous years. Among the people added to the
industry, 26% were women.
Inclusion and Gender Distribution
During the year, 3,519 women were employed at a
Swedish-owned foreign game company, an increase
of 51%. This corresponds to 31% of all staff at Swedish-
owned game studios outside of Sweden. The majority
of these are employees of Embracer Group, Stillfront
Group, G5 Entertainment and Paradox Interactive.
What complicates the analysis of this topic is the
difficulty in obtaining data on the gender distribution
of many companies. The listed companies are obliged
to report this in their annual reports, but most of the
small, medium-sized and even large companies do not
communicate this information in their annual reports
or via websites. For this report, we have supplemented
the numbers with data on gender distribution from Statistics Sweden, however it has not been available
for all companies. In order for the industry to be able
to address the challenges that exist and to be able to
work actively with gender equality, it would be positive
if more companies reported on their own situation.
There is still a great challenge in attracting more
women to the industry and in retaining them, but also
in getting more women to start their own companies.
Women in the games industry are mainly found in
medium and large companies. The most even gender
distribution is found within companies that work with
mobile platforms and VR. Ten companies have exclu-
sively female employees, nine of which only consist of
the founder.
1,755
1,410
1,226
1,036
849
643
573
516
405
293
2021
2020
2019
2018
2016 2017
2012 201320142015
Women Working in the Industry in
Sweden

17
In the UK, a second census for the UK game industry
was published in March 2022. The census was pub –
lished by the trade association Ukie and carried out by
the University of Sheffield. 3,200 people (about 20% of
the total workforce) working in the video game industry
in the UK participated and anonymously answered the
questions. The report’s goal was to understand what
the industry really looks like in terms of gender, nation-
ality, age, education, etc. and to determine what the
starting point is for improvement and change. Some of the findings of the UK survey were that
70% of all people working in the game industry in the
country are men, 28% identify as women and 2% as
non-binary. It also found that 21% of all people working
in the industry belonged to the LGBTQ+ community,
a significantly higher percentage than the national aver-
age of between 3-7%. In Sweden, some companies have begun to report
the share of non-binary employees in their annual re-
ports. Of the Swedish companies that provided this fig-
ure, the proportion that did not identify as either male
or female was 1.24%. To the extent the information
has been available, the gender distribution is based on
gender identity according to how each company has
reported data.
Initiatives in the Industry
Game Dev Force – Founded in early 2019 with the vision
of reconciling different initiatives within Sweden that
all aim to create a more inclusive and diverse game
development industry. Game Dev Force returned in
2022 with both the mini-conference The Thing and a
new edition of Valkyrie Jam. Levelling the Playing Field – A funding initiative from
Coffee Stain that targets smaller studios that employ
at least as many women as men to promote gender
equality in the industry. They have since the start
invested in three studios. In 2021, the Internet Foundation arranged Tidsvåg –
gaming parties, on 2 different occasions that celebrated
games and women’s successes in the games industry. Wings was founded in 2018, investing in indie games
developed by teams where women and marginalised
genders hold key positions at the companies. GEM, Game Empowerment Movement, started in
southern Sweden in 2021 as a local initiative to support
an equal and inclusive culture in the game industry.
Some Key Figures
• 29 companies consist of at least 50% women com-
pared to 22 the previous year. The largest of these is
Star Stable with 88 female employees.
• 83 companies have a higher than average propor-
tion of women with at least 22% women employed.
Together they have a turnover of EUR 2 billion.
• 94 companies with more than one employee consist
of only men, the largest of these companies has 22
employees.
• 30 companies with more than one employee have at
least 50% women in management or on the board.
GEM is supported by Massive Entertainment, Avalanche
Studios Group, The Game Assembly, King and others. DONNA is an interest group based at the Universi-
ty of Skövde that since 2011 has worked with gender
equality issues in game development, work that has
been hailed as a teaching example of how to work with
gender mainstreaming at colleges and universities. In
2022, the mini-conference DONNA DAY was held over
two days for both students and alumni in connection
with the Sweden Game Conference.
Itatake –
Gumslinger
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

Dinomite Games – Go! Fight! Fantastic!
18 INCLUSION AND GENDER DISTRIBUTION
The south Swedish game
development industry 2022
In the south of Sweden, the interest association Game
Habitat has conducted a survey among people working
in the game industry, inspired by the British census. Just
over 200 people (approx. 14% of the number working in the
region) participated in the survey which focused on finding
out information about the employees, how they view work-
ing in the games industry and what they think about the
region. The full report is available at gamehabitat.se
Who is Working in the Games Industry?
• Almost half have worked for more than six years in the
industry. 25% have been working with games for over
ten years.
• A majority have reached the age of 30. 11% percent are
over the age of 40.
• 20% have children and two-thirds live in a steady rela-
tionship.
• Many have moved to Sweden to work in the industry.
56% have Swedish citizenships.
• Among respondents, 76% were men, 18% identified as
women, and 2.9% as non-binary. The rest chose not to
state gender. The result gives both a lower proportion of
men and a lower proportion of women than the report-
ed average for the region.

19
THE INDUSTRY VOICE EMILY DRAMEUS
Head of People & Culture, Amplifier Game Invest
Hi Emily Drameus, what are you most satisfied with
in your work on inclusion?
I am most pleased that diversity and inclusion are clear-
ly stated goals on the agenda. The questions permeate
our business from goals at management team level to,
for example, training for staff and how we carry out
recruitment processes. Of course, it is always a work in
progress, but I see how much difference it makes when
inclusion becomes a pronounced focus area for the
entire organization.
What is your best advice for how to start working
with inclusion and diversity?
The best advice for the management of companies is
to prioritise diversity and inclusion as something they
want to work actively with. When it is added as an item
on the management agenda and is included in relevant
role descriptions, it becomes easier for everyone in the
organisation to contribute to the work. Start by setting
goals that feel clear and achievable and get help from
those who have knowledge and experience of working with inclusion. It is not possible to rely on a few enthusi
–
asts in the organisation to pursue it as a separate issue;
inclusion is an issue that is crucial for how employees
thrive, who you manage to attract in recruitment pro-
cesses and what collaboration looks like internally.
What more would you like to see Swedish game
companies do to contribute to a positive develop –
ment in terms of inclusion and diversity?
I think the industry has taken good steps forward in
recent years, but I would love to see more collaboration
between companies to reach out to younger genera-
tions to attract a wider diversity in the long run. Given
how the video games industry is growing, it will be
critical that more people see it as an attractive option to
work with game development. We can all contribute to
creating a sustainable industry where more people can
see clear career paths and a healthy work environment.
I also believe that representation is one of the keys to
attracting greater diversity.
”We can all contribute to creating a sustainable
industry where more people can see clear career paths and a healthy work
environment.”
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

20 LARGEST COMPANIES
More companies are getting bigger. Seven companies reported sales
over 100 million Euro and 16 companies had over 100 employees.
38 companies had a turnover of over ten million Euro. About 40%
of the companies showed positive net results, 48 companies
reported a profit north of 10 million, and 107 companies had ten or
more employees. Below is the turnover of only Swedish-registered
companies. A list of the largest Swedish companies’ global turnover
can be found in the chapter on game companies in the world.
Largest Companies
Company Revenue

M EUR 2021
1 King 547
2 Mojang 536
3 EA DICE 152
4 Paradox Interactive 143
5 Toca Boca 132
6 G5 Entertainment 130
7 Coffee Stain Publishing 117
8 Avalanche Studios Group 84
9 Ubisoft Entertainment Sweden 79
10 Embracer Group (moderbolag) 52
Swedish Revenue in M EUR
CompanyEmployees
in Sweden
2021
1 Ubisoft Entertainment Sweden 837*
2 EA DICE 730
3 King 648
4 Paradox Interactive 511
5 Embracer Group 463*
6 Avalanche Studios Group 415*
7 Sharkmob 251
8 Embark Studios 209*
9 Thunderful Group 189
10 Star Stable Entertainment 172
*Embracer Group’s key figures are from June 30, 2022 and include figures from all domestically owned companies. The key figures from Ubisoft Sweden, Avalanche
Studios Group, Sharkmob and Embark are from December 31, 2021. The remaining companies have reported their average number of full-time employees during
the year.
Employees in Sweden

21
Ember Trail –
Distant Bloom
Hi Emma Ihre, Head of Sustainability, Embracer
Group! What are you most satisfied with in your
sustainability work?
Embracer’s sustainability work is based on our business
and helps us continue to live according to our values –
I am proud of that. Our work helps us navigate a world
full of challenges and opportunities. In addition, the
games our studios produce contribute to the develop-
ment of society. Our global group includes examples
of games that help scientists crack the genetic code, as
in Borderlands Science, and Asmodees Access+ which is
designed for people with cognitive and neuropsychiat –
ric variations.
What is your best advice for how to start working
with sustainability issues?
Start by looking at how you work today and your exist-
ing business. What issues are most important to work
on? Where do you have opportunities and what risks do
you have to manage? You can prioritise the work based
on that. In this work, simplicity and clarity are crucial.
THE INDUSTRY VOICE EMMA IHRE
Head of Sustainability, Embracer Group
When you know what you are doing and why you are
doing it, the work permeates the entire organisation.
Everyone from programmers, board members, office
assistants, marketers, managers to lawyers and more
has a role to play in ensuring that sustainability work
contributes to value creation for the company’s stake-
holders. Another important lesson is to create owner-
ship of your sustainability work within the organisation,
while not being afraid of receiving outside help when
needed.
What are the biggest challenges when it comes to
sustainability in the video game industry?
In the challenges, I see both risks and opportunities for
the industry. Diversity, inclusion and equality are such
issues. If we succeed in broadening recruitment and
bringing in more perspectives and experiences, the
industry can stay competitive and innovative. If we do
not handle the challenge, we create risks pertaining to
skills provision.
”If we succeed in broadening recruitment and bringing in
more perspectives and experiences, the industry
can stay competitive and
innovative.”
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

22 BUSINESS GROUPS AND THE STOCK EXCHANGE
Business Groups and
the Stock Exchange
A change that has taken place in the Swedish games industry
in recent years is that more and more groups with foreign
subsidiaries have emerged, gained market shares and retained
their headquarters in Sweden.
Flamebait Games –
Passpartout 2
This is reflected in market capitalisation, where
Karlstad-based Embracer Group became the highest
valued game company in Europe in the spring of 2021.
This report’s world map of Swedish-owned game de-
velopment companies also illustrates where Swedish
listed companies buy up studios around the world.
Some groups, such as Embracer and Stillfront,
have a large part of their operations outside Sweden.
Together, the two companies own a significant part
of the German games industry. THQ Nordic, PLAION
and Goodgame are some examples of Swedish-
owned companies in Germany. This year’s report
separately reports on the turnover and number of
employees in Swedish and foreign companies for
these groups.
Listed Companies
21 Swedish game companies are listed on the stock
exchange, ten of these were listed on the stock
exchange in the last 5 years. Seven of the companies
had sales of over 100 million EUR in 2021. Put together, the listed companies had a net
turnover of EUR 3.6 billion in 2021, a large increase
compared to 2020 when they had a total turnover of
SEK 2 billion. The combined market capitalisation of the listed
Swedish games companies was EUR 14 billion in
December 2021.

23
CompanyYear of (first)
listningListed on
Revenue 2021
MEUR
Modern Times Group MTG AB 1999NASDAQ Stockholm Mid Cap 523
Starbreeze AB 2000NASDAQ Stockholm 12
G5 Entertainment AB 2006NASDAQ Stockholm 130
Star Vault AB 2007Nordic SME 1
Safe Lane Gaming AB 2010Nordic SME 5
Stillfront Group AB 2015First North Stockholm 538
Embracer Group AB 2016First North Stockholm 1,679
Paradox Interactive AB 2016First North Stockholm 143
Jumpgate AB 2016Nordic SME 2
Gold Town Games AB 2016Nordic SME 1
Enad Global 7 AB 2017First North Stockholm 165
MAG Interactive AB 2017First North Stockholm 28
Goodbye Kansas Group AB 2017First North Stockholm 26
Qiiwi Games AB 2017NASDAQ First North Growth Market 6
Beyond frames Entertainment AB 2018Spotlight Stock Market 2
Zordix AB 2018Nordic SME 46
Adventure Box Technology AB 2019First North Stockholm 0
Thunderful Group AB 2020First North Stockholm 310
Sozap AB 2021NASDAQ First North Growth Market 2
Fragbite Group AB 2021NASDAQ First North Growth Market 12
Wicket Gaming AB 2021Spotlight Stock Market 0
Flamebait Games –
Passpartout 2
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

24 THE DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC GAME COMPANIES
The Development of Public
Game Companies
The global video game market has experienced a
noticeable transformation during the past five years,
largely driven by an increased internet penetration
rate as well as an improved accessibility to games due
to smartphones, which currently account for roughly
50% of the total market. A general increase in adoption
and a higher social acceptance of gaming as a leisure
activity, has further benefited the industry and has
been accelerated by the pandemic where enforced
lockdowns resulted in more people turning to online
activities to socialise. As of April 2020, the online video
game streaming platform Twitch reported an increase
of 50% in the number of gaming hours watched and
the online PC game platform Steam saw its concur-
rent user base surpassing 20 million. Although we are
currently in a post-COVID state, a portion of the newly
recruited corona-gamers are likely to stay true to their new-found hobby. As a result, the global games market
is expected to continue its growth and Newzoo esti-
mates the market will reach a cap of USD 197Bn in 2022,
where Asia-Pacific will hold the largest market share of
roughly 50%.
The Swedish publicly listed game companies have
seen impressive stock price increases, underpinned by
a high M&A activity level and several IPOs. The accu-
mulated market capitalisation of the Swedish publicly
listed game companies grew from approximately SEK
15Bn in January 2017 to SEK 223Bn at its’ height in April
2021, driven by the same fundamental market trends
supporting the global market. However, one must take
into consideration the number of share issues which
have been conducted throughout the period, which
directly increases the market capitalization – primarily
by Embracer Group and Stillfront Group. Since the peak
Guest chapter by Staffan Ekström, Mikael Jakobson, Johan Jintoft, Anna Widemar
and Carl-Fredrik Bley from EY Corporate Finance, who have significant experience in
assisting in M&A transactions within the game industry. This chapter analyses the
development of the listed companies, with data contributed by NASDAQ.
0
50
150
250
100
200
2017 20172018201820192019202020202021202120222022
Embracer Q1 rappor t
MTG Sp lit
COVID
St
illf ront årsre do visn ing
202 0
Embr
acer för vä rvar G earbox ,
As pyr och Easybr ain
Embr acer avs luta r förv ärve n
Sozap, Fragbit e oc h
Wi cket börsnoteras 12 6
Swedish Game Companies
Accumulated Market
Capitalization BSEK Embracer announce Gear-
box, Aspyr and Easybrain
acquisitions
Stillfront AR
2020 Embracer closes the acquisitions
COVID Sozap, Fragbite
and Wicket IPO
MTG Split
Embracer Q1
report
126
Source: NASDAQ, S&P Capital IQ, EY Estimates

25
in late April of 2021, the accumulated value has declined to SEK 126Bn
as of early October 2022. The total market capitalization of game com-
panies listed in Sweden has shown an annual growth rate of 46% over
the last three years. Games is a global market and most of the reve-
nues for the Swedish game companies are generated internationally.
MTG, which completed their transformative journey into a pure-play
games holding company following the split with Nordic Entertainment
Group (currently Viaplay Group), have only been included post-split in
all derivations.Despite the continuously growing portfolio of publicly listed Swed –
ish game companies, currently standing at 21, a vast majority of the
market capitalisation is concentrated to a handful players – although
there has been a shift among these largest contributors.
Valiant – KreatureKind
Market cap Weighted Stock Price
Development (Index: 100)
Source: NASDAQ, S&P Capital IQ, EY Estimates
G5 Stillfront MTG Paradox Embracer
Source: NASDAQ, S&P Capital IQ, EY Estimates
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

26 THE DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC GAME COMPANIES
The two most noticeable transformations are those
of Embracer Group and Paradox Interactive. As of
January, Paradox Interactive accounted for 37% of
the total market capitalisation of the Swedish games
market but has since reduced its’ share by more than
half to 15% whilst Embracer have grown from 16% up
to 61% – largely driven by a highly active M&A agenda,
having completed approx. 50 acquisitions and effec-
tively increased its market capitalization from SEK 2Bn
to SEK 77Bn throughout the observed period. MTG,
although late to the party, has managed to obtain a
sizable market share since its transformation, currently
standing at 7%. Stillfront has followed a similar pattern
to that of Embracer, having increased its market share
from 3% to 10% whilst G5 has declined from 6% to 1%.
Irrespective of the individual companies’ performance,
the market has been and still is dominated by a select
number where the top five individual companies meas-
ured by market capitalization accounted for almost
96% as of October 7, 2022.
The substantial game-specific benefits of the pan-
demic are further observable when compared to the
broader market. But it also shows a significant decline
due to wider macroeconomic events and a conser-
vative market sentiment where investors have tran-
sitioned from high-growth to more traditional assets following the growth-oriented post-COVID bull-run,
where games assets have been punished harder than
the broader market.
A similar development can be observed in the accu-
mulated Forward EV/EBITDA valuation of the top five
largest listed companies which all saw an upswing as
a consequence of the pandemic outbreak. Following
recent global events, one could argue that a market
correction can be observed similar to the stock price
development, a theme which has been prevalent across
the entire stock market. In fact, the companies are trad-
ing at valuations approximately 33% lower compared to
the beginning of the observation period, and 68% lower
when compared to the peak in October 2020. However, an important point to highlight is that the
companies also have grown substantially, and thereby
the future expected growth rate is potentially lower.
Additionally, the cost of capital following interest rate
hikes and a more risk averse investor community
have increased the required rate of return, effectively
lowering the estimated Forward EV/EBITDA multiples.
An alternative interpretation is that investors do not
believe that the game companies will be able to sustain
its growth and profitability levels despite the strong
underlying game-specific market fundamentals.
Average Forward EV/EBITDA Top Five Listed
Games Companies
0
10x
15x
2017 20172018201820192019202020202021202120222022
5x
20x
19x
9x 6x
Source: NASDAQ, S&P Capital IQ, EY Estimates

27
Fatshark – Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

28 GAME DEVELOPER MAP – SWEDEN
Game development companies are scattered all over the
country. A majority of the employees are in the capital,
but significantly more companies are based outside
Stockholm.
 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 9
10 11
13 14
16
21 20
15
17 18
19
12
Game Developer Map – Sweden
It is clear that more companies and employees have been con-
centrated in places with an active regional hub or cluster organi-
sation that has worked actively to promote the industry. This
year, therefore, the regions are reported separately divided into
the country’s largest hubs. There are some initiatives other than
those listed below but they are still smaller in scale and thus not
represented separately.
It is worth noting that only employees of limited liability com-
panies are included in the statistics and that this data is based on
full-time positions from the companies’ annual reports. The total
number of people working with game development in each local-
ity is therefore significantly higher. Employees at local offices are
reported at the respective place of work to the greatest extent
possible.The numbers below include game studios that started in
2022 and thus may differ from the key figures. The purpose of the map is to illustrate as far as possible where
game development is based in the country and which companies
are behind it; therefore we have used studio names rather than
company names where such information was available. For the
same reason, to a large extent, administrative divisions of compa-
nies are not included on the map. Is your company missing from
the map? Feel free to contact us with a description.
Regional Hubs No. CompaniesNo. Employees
Stockholm 3334,745
Västerbotten & Norrbotten
Arctic Game 75
322
Skåne & Blekinge
Game Habitat/Gameport 130
1,515
Västra Götaland
Sweden Game Arena/
The Game Incubator 120
841
Östergötland
East Sweden Game 45
52
Rest of Sweden 129469
Total 8327,944

29
NORRBOTTEN  1
Boden
5 Fortress AB
921 Studios AB
Aurora Punks
House of How Games Sweden AB
Nethash AB
Northify AB
October8 AB
Pixadome
Streiff Studio AB
Synical Studios AB
TNTX in Boden AB
Wanderword i Sverige AB
Volatile Frameworks AB
Luleå
Bazooka Game Studios AB
Blamorama Games
RDY Arena AB
UNIGIL-SUPPORT AB
Piteå
Baldheads Creative AB
Digital Awakening AB
Frozen North Studios AB
VÄSTERBOTTEN  2
Skellefteå
Aurora Punks
Boxplay Skellefteå AB
ChillChat Studios AB
Creative Crowd AB
Cubetopia AB
DANIEL LEHTO AB
Flat Tail Studios ABFrigol IT & Media AB
Goat Mountain Development AB
Gold Town Games
Grand Pike AB
Gumlin Games AB
Lazer Wolf Studios AB
Mind Detonator AB
Mindforce Game Lab AB
Natural User Interface Techno-
logies AB
Nirah Studios
Nordsken Handlingskraft AB
NORTH KINGDOM DESIGN &
COMMUNICATION AB
Northplane AB
Spinoff Games AB
Tarvalley, Aktiebolag
TECHNIQUE PROGRAM I
SKELLEFTEÅ AKTIEBOLAG
Throw away company AB
Triolith Games AB
Vavel Games AB
Vorto Gaming AB
White Warlock AB
Windswept Interactive
Yalts AB
Umeå
Aurora Punks
Blast Bit Enterprises AB
Bruno Janvier Software AB
Cassius Creative AB
COLDWOOD INTERACTIVE AB
Crypto Rouge Games
David Marquardt Studios AB
Frostspektrum Interactive AB
Game Boost Sweden AB
Level Eight AB
Mattias Wiking Development AB
Morningdew Media AB
Moxville AB
Musikmedel Future Vision AB
Nostop Horses AB
Oddgames Umeå
ORYX SIMULATIONS
Paradox Arctic
RankOne Global AB
Sam & Frida AB
Slice Start Software Solutions AB
The Fine Arc Nordic AB
Turborilla AB
TWO 58 PRODUCTIONS AB
Zordix
VÄSTERNORRLAND 3
Kramfors
Grey Tower AB
Örnsköldsvik
Northern Ice Handelsbolag
WHYMAC AB
Sundsvall
A bit ago AB
AtomicElbow AB
Caeiro AB
Corncrow Games AB Datacraft Holding AB
Good Decision AB
Gr IT AB
KONUNGER GAMES AB
Mixxus Studio
Molntuss Spel AB
Neozoo Creative
R&P Games AB
Romeo Invest AB
Saber Interactive Sweden
Sideline Labs AB
SideQuest Sweden AB
SPACELOOM STUDIOS AB
Timrå
Edym Pixels
Viksjö
Simtarget
JÄMTLAND  4
Åre
Hindelid Development AB
Östersund
Skyturns AB
GÄVLEBORG  5
Gävle
Early Morning Studio AB
DALARNA  6
Borlänge
Quiz Anytime AB
Zoikum Games Aktiebolag
Falun
Aktiebolaget Adit Studios
Deadghost Interactive AB
Giron Software AB
Kolesterol Cät Interactive AB
MEGAFRONT AB
North Concept ArtStudio AB
Tension Onsite Sport AB
TENSION technology AB
The New Branch AB
Hedemora
Clifftop Games AB
Killmonday Games AB
Malung-Sälen
North Modding Company AB
Säter
Twoorb Studios AB
REGION UPPSALA 7
Enköping
Yoger Games AB Håbo
aMASE AB
Rennert Games AB
Knivsta
Studio Knick-Knack AB
Uppsala
Aegik AB
Bitfix AB
Chizu AB
Dinomite Games AB
Disir productions AB
Doctor Entertainment AB
Ember Trail AB
Epic Games
Everlight Studio AB
Frojo Apps AB
Javxa
Kinda Brave Publishing AB
MachineGames Sweden AB
Matematikspel i Uppsala AB
Nena Innovation AB
Neon Giant AB
Nexile AB
Night Node AB
Red Cabin Games AB
Semiwork Studios AB
Tretton Adam AB
VisualDreams AB
Wicket Gaming AB
YemSoft AB
VÄSTMANLAND  8
Köping
LS Entertainment AB
Västerås
Bumble Byte AB
VÄRMLAND 9
Arvika
Shaping Games AB
Forshaga
Insanto Studios AB
Hammarö
Jonatan Röjder Delnavaz
Mystik AB
Karlstad
Agera Games AB
Clear River Games AB
Embracer Group AB
Firma Noah Molteberg Lundén
Forgebyte Studio AB
Frostglade AB
Isak Liljengren Enskild firma
Koncepting
Mirage Game Studios AB
Continues on the next page
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

30 GAME DEVELOPER MAP – SWEDEN
Nimble Giant Sweden
Nine Lives Game Studio
Nuttery Entertainment AB
Plucky Bytes AB
Studio Malosi AB
Team Velocita AB
Kil
Philosophic Games
REGION ÖREBRO  10
Degerfors
ORBMIT Productions AB
Hallsberg
vibynary Aktiebolag
Lindesberg
AC GAMES AB
Nora
Toasty Leaf AB
Örebro
DANJO CREATIVE AB
Elder Grounds AB
LOYD Studios AB
NBrigade Music AB
Shemshem Design AB
SÖDERMANLAND  11
Eskilstuna
anananas studio AB
AppsAlliance AB
DVapps AB
Todys Games AB
Nyköping
SOZAP
Sysiac games AB
Strängnäs
Agile Softworks AB
REGION STOCKHOLM  12
Botkyrka
Beadhead Games AB
Eelooz AB
Stringent Ljud AB
Danderyd
bNosy AB
Peppy Pals AB
Planeshift Interactive AB
Solvarg AB
Tinto Consulting AB
Ekerö
chillbro studios AB
Mr.Ws Development AB
Playstack AB
Haninge
FeWes AB
Gamatron AB
Pretty Fly Games AB
Rain of Reflections AB
Huddinge
Bearded Ladies
Bright Gambit AB
Holmgång AB
Moon Mode AB
Razzleberries AB
Strawberry Hill AB
Typosaurus AB
Järfälla
Cresthelm studios AB
Merrybrain AB
Smojo AB
Unleash the Giraffe AB
Lidingö
My Left Head Entertainment AB
PIXEL TALES AB
Right Nice Games AB
The Froghouse AB
Nacka
2Play Studios AB
Colin Lane Games AB
Domoore AB
Game Advisor Sweden AB
LeadTurn Gaming AB
Liquid Swords AB
Polygongruvan AB
Shellander Games AB
Norrtälje
Argent Realms AB
Aurora Punks
Dovora Interactive AB
Space Plunge AB
Österåker
Ringtail Interactive AB
Sprint1 Productions AB
Sigtuna
Eight Lives AB
Epic Games
Svantech Studios AB
Usurpator AB
Södertälje
Diffident Games AB
JN Interactive AB
Sollentuna
Ullbors Illustrations AB
Solna
BBS Games AB
BitBear AB
Christian Nordgren AB
DIVR Sweden AB
Frozen Dev AB
FunGI AB
Jona Marklund AB
Kaj Forell Video Game Brand AB
Sharcoal Studios AB
Solutions Skövde AB
ToeDev AB
TRB Studio AB
Stockholm
10 Chambers AB
A Small Game AB
Acegikmo AB
Adventure Box Technology AB
Aktiebolaget Fula Fisken
Almost Fantastic AB
Amplifier Studios AB
Antler Interactive AB
Apprope AB
Arcmill AB
Arrowhead Game Studios AB
art by rens AB
Ashes & Diamonds Entertain-
ment AB
Aurora Punks
Avalanche Studios Group
Axolot Games AB
Babel Studios AB
Barnacles Studio AB
Battlecamp AB
Bewildermill AB
Beyond Frames Entertain
–
ment AB
Blackfox Studios
Blastronaut AB
Bodbacka:Boom AB
Book of travel AB
Chief Rebel AB
Chuffy Puffy Games AB
Coffee Stain
Cold Pixel AB
Collecting Smiles AB
Cortopia AB
Cosmico AB
Coulianos Studio AB
Crackshell AB
Creation Zero Point Holding AB
Dark Riviera AB
Define Reality AB
Dejan Dimic AB
Denove Service AB
Devm Games AB
Diax Game AB
Digital Exception Sthlm AB
Doomlord Interactive AB
DorDor AB
EA Dice
Ekvall Games Sweden AB
Eldring Games AB
Elias Software AB
Embark Studios AB
Enad Global 7 AB
Enember Studios AB
Envar entertainment AB
Evergreen IT AB
ExoCorp AB
EXP Studios AB
Experiment 101 AB
Fablebit AB
Fall Damage Studio AB
Fast Travel Games AB
Fatshark Filimundus AB
FJRD Interactive
Flarie AB
Flashe Gaming Group AB
Fragbite Group AB
Fredtob Games AB
Frever AB
Friendly Foe Games AB
FunRock Development AB
Fury Studios AB
Fuyu Games AB
G5 Entertainment AB
Gambit Technologies AB
GAME-HOSTING GH AB
Gameloom AB
Gamersgate AB
Gamescan Stockholm Studios AB
Ghetto Blaster AB
Gleechi AB
Glorious Games Group AB
Goals AB
Goodbye Kansas Group AB
GraphN AB
Grindstone Interactive AB
Gro Play Digital AB
GURATRON Industries AB
Hati Hati Games AB
Hatrabbit AB
Hazelight
HELG Group AB
HVNT Entertainment AB
Hyperspeed Entertainment AB
Ichigoichie AB
IdaP Studios AB
JO Johansson Film & L Lindbom AB
Jonas Levin AB
Jopter Interactive AB
Kavalri Games AB
Keepsake Games AB
Kickflip Digital AB
King
Landfall Games AB
Legendo Entertainment AB
Lejongrejer AB
Lekis AB
LERP AB
Level Stars AB
Light & Dark Arts AB
Linbasta AB
Lionbite AB
LIQUID MEDIA AB
Maadwalk Games AB
MAG Interactive AB
Mentalytics AB
Mibi Games AB
Midjiwan AB
Might and Delight AB
Millionth Line AB
Minoan Studios AB
Miso Games AB
Mojang AB
Moreish Games AB
Motvind Studios AB
MTG
MuddyPixel AB
Mudpike AB
Mutate AB
NAG Studios AB
Nampa Design AB
Neat Corporation
Continued from previous page

31
Neuston AB
NFG Nordic Forest Games AB
Nibiru Software AB
NL Productions AB
Northplay Holding AB
Odd Raven Studios AB
Osivvi AB
Other Games AB
Oxeye Game Studio AB
P Studios AB
Palabit AB
Paradox Interactive
Petter Bergmar AB
Photon Forge AB
PLAYCOM GAME DESIGN AB
Playtrigger Games AB
Plotagon Production AB
Polarbit AB
POTEMKIN AB
Psychogenic AB
Pusselbit Games AB
Quel Solaar AB
Questadore AB
Rainbow Road AB
RAKETSPEL INTERAKTIVA
PRODUKTIONER AB
Raw Fury AB
Really Interactive AB
Red Cup Games AB
Refold AB
Regius Group AB
Reset Media AB
Resolution Games AB
Rightsized Games AB
Rock A Role Games ABRovio Sweden AB
Rowil AB
Rymdfall AB
Safe Lane Gaming AB
Schmugan AB
Scion Studios AB
Shelter Games AB
Simway AB
Sleeper Cell AB
Snowprint Studios AB
Solid Studios Creative Lab AB
Sons of Mim AB
Source Empire AB
Spelkraft Sthlm AB
Square Dreams AB
STAR STABLE ENTERTAINMENT AB
Starbreeze
Stillfront Group AB
Stroboskop AB
Sunhammer AB
Svartskägg AB
Systemic Reaction AB
Tale Maker Productions STHLM AB
Tappily AB
Ternios AB
The Gang Sweden AB
Thriving Ventures AB
Tiger & Kiwi AB
Toadman Interactive AB
Toca Boca AB
Tomorroworld AB
Toppluva AB
Trail Games AB
TROISDIM AB
TwifySoft ABUbisoft Stockholm
Unity Technologies Sweden AB
Unordinal AB
Valiant Game Studio AB
Villa Gorilla AB
Vinternatt Studio AB
Virtual Brains AB
Vishindo AB
Visiontrick Media AB
Warm Kitten AB
Wayfare Studio AB
Westre Games AB
Wild Games AB
Wildlife Studios Sweden AB
Wilnyl Games AB
Wings
Wonderscope AB
wrlds creations AB
Xpert Eleven AB
Zordix
Ztar Games AB
Sundbyberg
Novamitech AB
Täby
Delayed Again AB
Frojo Investment AB
NIALBE AB
Polyregular Studios AB
Sleipner Games AB
Soundkids AB
Synthetic Mind AB
Tealbit AB
Warpzone Studios ABYangmei Studios AB
Tyresö
Sista Potatis AB
Spelagon AB
Wynne Technology AB
Upplands Väsby
Fredaikis AB
RobTop Games AB
Upplands-Bro
Bambino Games AB
Freshly Squeezed AB
Vallentuna
Pixeldiet Entertainment AB
Värmdö
Blue Scarab Entertainment AB
Good Night Brave Warrior AB
IMGNRY International AB
Massive Shapes AB
Spelkultur i Sverige AB
ÖSTERGÖTLAND  13
Linköping
Aftnareld AB
Another Game Sweden AB
Continues on the next page
Embark Studios – The Finals
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

32 GAME DEVELOPER MAP – SWEDEN
Appelsin Apps AB
Aurora Punks
Avokodo Studios AB
Beartwigs AB
Catalope Games AB
Ghiblio AB
Graewolv AB
Hihat Studios AB
Holmcom AB
Incredible Concepts of Sweden AB
Irrbloss AB
Landell Games AB
Laxbeam AB
Lurkware AB
Lutra Interactive AB
Martin Magni AB
Miltonic Games AB
Neogon Holding AB
overflow AB
Pixleon AB
Power Challenge AB
Red Nerv AB
Simplygon studios
SocAli Socialpeda –
gogiska Verktyg AB
Strategy Mill AB
Therese Kristoffer Publishing AB
VISIARC Inclusive Design AB
Worldshapers AB
Zero Index AB
Mjölby
Jidindi AB
Motala
Campcreation AB
Code Club AB
Norrköping
AmberWing AB
Continued from previous page Correcture Games AB
Dimfrost Studio AB
Gamesclub International AB
GOES International AB
Molndust Interactive AB
One Potato Kingdom AB
Perpetuum Media Sverige AB
Pugstorm AB
Skyfox Interactive AB
Sutur AB
Söderköping
Loud Hat Productions AB
VÄSTRA GÖTALAND  14
Ale
1337 Game Design AB
Wishful Whale AB
Alingsås
Qiiwi Games AB
Bollebygd
Rockheart Studios AB
Borås
Gigantic Duck AB
Gothenburg
A Creative Endeavor AB
Ampd AB
An Otter Team AB
Atvis AB
Aurora Punks
Beardybird AB
Bitwave AB
Box Dragon AB
Bulbsort AB
Carry Castle AB
Choofun Games AB
Craft Animations and Enter-
tainment AB
Creative AI Nordic AB
Creative Vault AB
Dennaton Games
Dennaton Games
Devkittens AB
EA Gothenburg
Elden Pixels AB
Epic Games
Friendbase AB
Frostcore AB
Fully Multiplayer AB
Greenblade Studios AB
Hello There AB
Hiber AB
Humla Games AB
inDirection Games AB
Insert Coin AB
int3 software AB
Itatake AB
ius innovation AB
just some games AB
Lavapotion AB
Lician Games AB
Like a Boss Games AB
MindArk
Mistwave Interactive AB
Neckbolt AB
Outbreak Studios AB
Pax6 Games AB
Playcentric Studios AB
Räven Aktiebolag
River End Games AB
Skill2Win Studios AB
SkyGoblin AB
Soupmasters AB
SteelRaven7 AB
Studio Far Out Games AB
Studio Northshade AB
Swarm Creations AB
The Fully Arcade AB
Thunderful
TinyHill AB
Winteractive AB
Wishfully Studios AB
YCJY Games AB
Zcooly AB
Härryda
Mambo Jambo Studios AB
Kungälv
Dreamon Studios AB
Lidköping
Pixel Pointer Studios AB
Mark
EXTRALIVES AB
Mellerud
Vovoid Media Technologies AB
Mölndal
E Games Invest Nordic AB
GSP golf AB
Heyman Atelje & Verkstad AB
Mindforce Game Lab AB
nornware AB
Oddiko AB
Pathos Interactive AB
Munkedal
Coilworks AB
Partille
Moonhood AB
Skara
Alega & Qiiwi Learning AB
VaragtP Studios AB
Skövde
Angry Demon Studio AB
Babloon Studios AB
Brimstone Games AB
Coffee Stain
Designlayout EGU AB
DoubleMoose Games AB
Flamebait AB
Midjiwan – Battle of Polytopia

33
FRAME BREAK AB
Green Tile Digital AB
Iron Gate AB
Knackelibang Productions AB
Let it roll AB
Ludosity AB
Nattland Interactive AB
Nørdlight Games AB
Palindrome Interactive AB
Pieces Interactive AB
Piktiv AB
PocApp Studios AB
Pretty Broken Code AB
Pronoia AB
Redbeet Interactive AB
Sandspire Interactive AB
Sonigon AB
Stunlock Studios AB
Subfrost Interactive AB
Sunscale Studios AB
Thunderful
Twitchy trigger finger AB
Whirlybird Games AB
Stenungsund
Ace Maddox AB
Tanum
Tenstar
Trollhättan
ActiveQuiz Europe AB
Easy Trigger AB
Vänersborg
Virtuverse AB
REGION JÖNKÖPING  15
Jönköping
Brandywise AB
Cuddle Monster AB
PrettyByte AB
Radical Sunset AB
Tranås
Head Coach Games AB
HALLAND  16
Falkenberg
Gellyberry Studios AB
Halmstad
Erik Svedäng AB
Kungsbacka
Breaker Interactive AB
Nifly Apps AB
Oganon interactive AB
Snojken AB
KRONOBERG  17
Älmhult
Inntq ABAlvesta
Wadonk AB
Ljungby
Bläckfisk Förlag AB
Markaryd
Reality Park AB
Tingsryd
Spelkollektivet Sweden AB
Växjö
Arcade Mixtape AB
Mabozo AB
Nemo Studios AB
Universal Learning Games ULG AB
Wildcore AB
REGION KALMAR  18
Nybro
Deadly Serious Media Sweden AB
GOTLAND  19
Eat Create Sleep AB
Jumpgate AB
Pixel Ferrets AB
Storm Potion AB
Tableflip Entertainment AB
BLEKINGE  20
Karlshamn
Aurora Punks
Dreamwalker Studios AB
Mana Brigade AB
Noumenon Games AB
Pretty Ugly AB
Redgrim AB
Something We Made AB
Svavelstickan AB
Thunderful
Virtual Tree Design AB
Karlskrona
Blackdrop Interactive AB
Macaroni Studios AB
Shatterplay Studio AB
Suffocated AB
Olofström
Black Tundra Productions AB
Ronneby
Activout AB
Nodbrim Interactive AB
Powersnake AB
SKÅNE  21
Ängelholm
PMAbit AB
Burlöv
Happi Papi AB
Pfanne AB
Spiddekauga Games AB
Eslöv
Digital kittens AB
Pastille AB
Triassic Games AB
Helsingborg
Decemberborn AB
Duckpond Interactive AB
Localize Direct AB
Monsuta AB
Pixelbite AB
Shapefarm AB
Höganäs
KEP Games AB
Hörby
CroolBright AB
Kristianstad
JE Software AB
Landskrona
KFH Graphics AB
Urban Binary AB
Lund
Abcde Entertainment AB
Bridgestars Techno –
logies Swe
den AB
Illwinter Game Design AB
Jitesoft AB
Junno Labs AB
Undone Games AB
Malmö
Apoapsis Game Laboratories AB
Art in Heart AB
Aurora Punks
Avalanche Studios Group
Bearded Ladies
Chromatic ink AB
Codeborn AB
Coffee Stain Malmö
Coherence Sweden AB
Cross Reality International AB
DeadToast Entertainment AB
Dengu AB
Diatomic AB
Divine Robot AB
Dunderbit AB
Echo Entertainment AB
Ernst & Borg Arkitektur AB
Frictional Games AB
Frogsong Studios AB
Gameflame
Gameheart Studio AB
Golden Possum Games AB
Gotterdammerung AB
Haderajan AB
Icehelm AB
Illusion Labs AB
Infinite Mana Games AB
IO Interactive AB
King Learning Loop Sweden AB
LERIPA AB
Longhand Electric AB
Luau AB
Massive Entertainment –
a Ubisoft Studio
Mediocre AB
MU Studios AB
Multiscription AB
Neon Noroshi AB
nevsram AB
Nordic Game Resources AB
Nordic Game Ventures i Malmö AB
Nordic Stone Studio AB
Not My Jeans AB
On the Outskirts AB
Oskar Stålberg AB
Paradox Thalassic
Pixel Shade
Plausible Concept AB
ProCloud Media Invest AB
Rashidi Interactive AB
Rau Studios AB
Richard Meredith AB
Robertson Nordic Partners AB
Rubycone AB
Section 9 Interactive AB
Senri AB
Sharkmob AB
She Was Such a Good Horse AB
Simogo AB
Southend Interactive AB
Star Vault AB
Stjärnstoft Studios AB
SWEDISH GAME DEVELOPMENT AB
Tales & Dice AB
Tarsier Studios
The Sleeping Machine AB
Thunderful
Transmuted Games AB
Tuxedo Labs AB
Velodrom AB
Vova Games AB
Vreski AB
webbfarbror AB
WhatAreBirds AB
WhyKev AB
Skurup
Spelmakare Jens Nilsson AB
Staffanstorp
Straw hat games AB
VoDoo Studios
Svedala
Binary Peak AB
Tomelilla
Pixilated Production AB
Trancenders Media AB
Vellinge
Impact Unified AB
Primary Hive AB
Ystad
VisionPunk AB
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

34 SWEDISH GAME COMPANIES AROUND THE GLOBE
That is an increase from last year’s game developer index where there
were 126 Swedish owned studios..This year’s data excludes about fifty
distribution offices and other more administrative units.
In total, there are studios spread across 49 countries and on all conti-
nents. The largest number of companies is in the US, 32, and 123 studios
are in Europe, of which 22 are in Germany. Sweden has been the largest investor in German companies in recent
years. The largest company outside Sweden’s borders is Embracer Group,
which through its various branches has 113 studios and a high global
presence, followed by Stillfront Group with 27 studios in 16 countries.
In total, 18 Swedish companies have various forms of branches and
subsidiaries in other countries. Of these, two studios, Avalanche Studios
Several game companies are expanding abroad. In october 2022
there were 197 Swedish owned studios around the world.
Swedish Game Companies
Around the Globe
Martin Magni –
Fancade
Company Group Re-
venue MEUR
2021Employees
outside Sweden
2021
1 Embracer Group 1,6796,183
2 King 547-
3 Stillfront Group 5381,166
4 Mojang 536-
5 Modern Times Group MTG 5231,386
6 Thunderful Group 310167
7 Enad Global 7 165764
8 EA DICE 152-
9 Paradox Interactive 143205
10 Toca Boca 132-
Largest Swedish
Companies Globally
Largest Swedish companies
including global revenue

35
Group’s New York & Liverpool offices have a
Danish group parent and Sharkmob’s London
studio has a Chinese group parent. In 2021, G5, Embracer Group and EG7 had
offices in Russia. Since Russia’s renewed war
in Ukraine, many employees have been relo-
cated to offices in other countries, but remain
on the map. Together, Swedish-owned game com-
panies employed just over 11,100 people in
other countries in 2021. Of these, 6,183 of
the employees worked for Embracer Group.
In October 2022, the Group estimated that
14,900 employees work for them globally,
which means that almost 28,000 people in
game development globally now work for a
Swedish-owned company. Out of the employ-
ees working in Swedish owned companies
abroad 31.5% were women. The growth of the number of studios and
employees domestically is largely driven by
organic growth, while the increase abroad is
largely acquisition-driven, although several of
the individual studios abroad also increased
in size. Where in the world companies establish
themselves depends largely on where there
are game studios that have performed well in
the past.
Resolution
Games –
Demeo
Martin Magni –
Fancade
Employees in Swedish Game
Companies Abroad
2017 201820192020 2021
11,158
7,177
3,253
2,604
668
52
Revenue in Swedish Game
Companies Abroad, M EUR
20172018201920202021
3,092
1,196
479 636
In
some
cases,
there are
economic
reasons for the
establishment, for example,
Canada has generous tax incentives
for creative companies, and several other
geographical regions attract companies
with financial incentives specifically aimed
at foreign companies. To some extent, it
may also be due to cultural connections,
for example, where there are employees
or founders with backgrounds in specific
countries. An overwhelming majority of
employees around the world are located in
countries with salary levels comparable to,
or higher, than Sweden.
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

36 GAME DEVELOPER MAP – GLOBAL
Below is a list of Swedish-owned
game studios in the world, as well
as foreign-owned studios that are
subsidiaries of Swedish game studios.
AFRICA 1
Egypt
Fragbite group
ASIA 2
India
MTG, Playsimple
Stillfront, Moonfrog
Israel
Embracer: DECA Games,
CrazyLabs
Japan
Stillfront, 6waves
Stillfront, Goodgames
Jordan
Stillfront, Babil Games
Philippines
Goodbye Kansas Group,
Vobling
Russia
G5
Embracer: Saber Interactive, Bytex
EG7, Artplant Russia
United Arab Emirates
Stillfront, Jawaker
Stillfront, Babil Games
China
Stillfront, 6waves
EUROPE 3
Austria
Embracer: PLAION,
PLAION GmbH
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Pow Wow Entertainment
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Game Developer Map – Global
Embracer: Asmodee,
Bezzerwizzer
Embracer: Coffee Stain,
Ghost Ship Games
Finland
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Bugbear Entertainment
Goodbye Kansas Group,
Sayduck
Paradox, Iceflake Studios
France
Embracer: Asmodee,
Days of Wonders
Embracer: Asmodee,
Space Cow
Embracer: Asmodee,
Space Cowboys
Embracer: Asmodee, Zygomatic
Embracer: Asmodee, Access +
Embracer: Asmodee, Asmodee
Embracer: Asmodee, Mixlore
Embracer: PLAION,
Digixart Studio
Embracer: Asmodee,
Tric Trac
Embracer: Asmodee,
Asmodee Digital
Embracer: PLAION, Voxler
Fragbite Group, Playdigious
Paradox, Playrion Game Studios
Embracer: Asmodee, Libellud
Embracer: Asmodee,
Edge Entertainment
Embracer: Asmodee, Philibert
Germany
Aurora Punks
EG7, Toadman Berlin Embracer: Asmodee,
Gamegenic
Embracer: Asmodee,
Lookout Games
Embracer: DECA Games,
DECA Games
Embracer: PLAION,

Deep Silver Fishlabs
Embracer: PLAION,
PLAION GmbH
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Black Forest Games
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Grimlore Games
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Handygames
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Kaiko Games
3
4
6
4
Purple Lamp
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
THQ Nordic GMBH
Embracer: Amplifier Game Invest,
Rare Earth games
Belarus
Embracer: Easybrain, Easybrain
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Saber Interactive Belarus
Belgium
Embracer: Asmodee,
Repos Production
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Appeal Studios
Embracer: Asmodee,
Pearl Games
Bosnia
Embracer: THQ Nordic, Gate21
Bulgaria
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Snapshot Games Bulgaria
Stillfront, Imperia Online JSC
Embracer: DECA Games,
DECA Games Eood
Croatia
Stillfront, Nanobit
Cyprus
Embracer: Easybrain, Easybrain
Qiiwi Games, Milligames /
WeAreQiiwi International
Czech Republic
Embracer: PLAION,
Warhorse Studios
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Ashborne Games
Denmark
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
3D realms
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Slipgate Ironworks
Embracer: Amplifier Game Invest,
Invisible Walls

37
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Massive Miniteam
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Metricminds
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Piranha Bytes
Jumpgate, gameXcite GmbH
Jumpgate, Tivola Games
MTG, InnoGames
Snowprint, Snowprint Studios
Germany GmbH
Stillfront, Bytro Labs
Stillfront, Goodgames
Stillfront, New Moon Production
Stillfront, OFM Studios
Stillfront, Playa Games
Stillfront, Sandbox Interactive
Hungary
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Zen Studios
Zordix, Invictus Games
2
3
1
5
Irland
Stillfront, eRepublik
Italy
Aurora Punks
Embracer: Amplifier Game Invest,
Destiny bit
Embracer: PLAION, Milestone S.r.l.
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
34BigThings
Lithuania
Goodbye Kansas Group, Sayduck
Malta
Stillfront, Dorado Games
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
4A Games Malta
The Netherlands
Paradox, Triumph StudiosFragbite Group, Lucky Kat
Embracer: PLAION, Vertigo Games
Norway
EG7, Artplant Norway
Embracer: Amplifier Game Invest,
Misc Games
Poland
Embracer: Asmodee, Rebel
Embracer: PLAION, Flying Wild Hog
Portugal
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Saber Interactive Portugal
Romania
Stillfront, eRepublik

Russia
G5Embracer: Saber Interactive,

Saber Interactive Russia
Serbia
Sozap, SOZAP DOO
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Mad Head Games
Slovakia
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Nine Rocks Games
Spain
Embracer: Amplifier Game Invest,
Vermila Studios
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Saber Interactive Spain
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Alkimia Interactive
Paradox, Paradox Tinto
Stillfront, Everguild
Thunderful, Stage Clear Studios
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

38 GAME DEVELOPER MAP – GLOBAL
Ukraine
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
4A Games Ukraine
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Fractured Byte
Stillfront, Game Labs
G5
United Kingdom
Aurora Punks
Avalanche Studios Group
EG7, Antimatter Games
EG7, Fireshine Games
Embracer: Amplifier Game Invest,
Silent Games
Embracer: Asmodee,
The Green Board Game
Embracer: PLAION,

Deep Silver Dambuster Studios
Embracer: PLAION,
Free Radical Design Limited
Embracer: PLAION, PLAION Ltd
MAG Interactive,
MAG Interactive
MTG, Hutch
Qiiwi Games, Playright Digital
Entertainment
Qiiwi Games, Qiiwi Games UK
Sharkmob, Sharkmob London Ltd
Stillfront, Everguild
Thunderful, Coatsink
Zordix, Merge Games
NORTH AMERICA 4
Canada
EG7, Big Blue Bubble
EG7, Piranha Games
Avalanche Studios Group –
Ravenbound
Embracer: Amplifier Game Invest,
Goose Byte
Embracer: Asmodee, Plan B
Embracer: DECA Games,
A Thinking Ape
Embracer: DECA Games,
IUGO Mobile Entertainment Inc.
Embracer: Gearbox Entertainment,
Gearbox Studio Montreal
Embracer: Gearbox Entertainment,
Gearbox Studio Quebec
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
New world Interactive Canada
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Rainbow Studios Montreal
MTG, Hutch
Stillfront, Kixeye
USA
Avalanche Studios Group
EG7, Big Blue Bubble
EG7, Cold Iron Games
EG7, Darkpaw Games
EG7, Daybreak Games
EG7, Dimensional Ink
EG7, Petrol Advertising
EG7, Rouge Planet Games
Embracer: Amplifier Game
Invest, C77 Entertainment
Embracer: Amplifier Game
Invest, Zapper Games Inc
Embracer: Asmodee,
Atomic Mass Games
Embracer: Asmodee,
Catan Studio
Embracer: Asmodee,
Exploding Kittens
Embracer: Asmodee,
Fantasy Flight Games
Embracer: Asmodee, Unexpected Games
Embracer: Asmodee,
Z-Man Games
Embracer: Dark Horse,
Dark Horse Entertainment, LLC
Embracer: Dark Horse,
Dark Horse Media, LLC
Embracer: Dark Horse,
Things From Another World, LLC
Embracer: Gearbox Entertainment,
Cryptic Studios
Embracer: Gearbox Entertainment,
Gearbox Entertainment
Embracer: Gearbox Entertainment,
Gearbox Software
Embracer: Gearbox Entertainment,
Lost Boys Interactive
Embracer: PLAION,

Deep Silver Volition LCC
Embracer: Saber Interactive, Aspyr
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Demiurge Studios
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
New world Interactive US
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Saber Interactive US
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Sandbox Strategies
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Shiver Entertainment
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
SmartPhone Labs
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Snapshot Games US
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Gunfire Games
Embracer: THQ Nordic,
Rainbow Studios Phoenix
Goodbye Kansas Group,
Infinite Entertainment MTG, Kongregate
Paradox, Harebrained Schemes
Paradox, Paradox Tectonic
Stillfront, Candywriter
Stillfront, Simutronics
Stillfront, Storm8

Stillfront, Super Free Games
Zordix, Mane6
Zordix, Maximum Games
Zordix, Modus Games
OCEANIA 5
New Zealand
MTG, Ninja Kiwi
SOUTH AMERICA 6
Argentina
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Nimble Giant Argentina
Brazil
Zordix, Modus Games Brazil
Chile
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Nimble Giant Chile
Peru
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Nimble Giant Peru
Uruguay
Embracer: Saber Interactive,
Nimble Giant Uruguay

39
Hi Georg Stenström, Head of Sustainability and
Compliance, Kinda Brave! What are you most satis-
fied with in your sustainability work?
That we decided early on to take a holistic approach
to both social and ecological sustainability. Once the
decision is made and complied with, it’s so much
more fun to work with and talk about it. Now it’s
deeply rooted and is a central part of our culture and
business model. This makes it easy for us to make
decisions such as buying used instead of new when
possible, or letting all our studios take training in how
to adapt their games to accessibility.I am also very happy that we chose to publish our
emission calculations online, in a usable format. This
means that we can get help if we happen to miss
something. But above all, we can help others with the
somewhat complicated step of calculating emissions.
If we can make it easier for others to be sustainable,
it is something that everyone benefits from.
What is your best advice for how to start working
with sustainability issues?
Start with something small! Too many companies
THE INDUSTRY VOICE GEORG STENSTRÖM
Head of Sustainability and Complience, Kinda Brave
believe that the task is overwhelming. Therefore,
nothing is done at all.Take such a simple thing as buy –
ing used equipment where possible. Why don’t more
companies and government agencies do it? How many
people get a new phone when they start at a work-
place just because the old one has been written off?
The cost to the planet – and often to the wallet as well
– is always there as a good argument. It can create a
positive snowball effect throughout the organisation,
and all of a sudden it’s not a big deal anymore. Rather,
it becomes a natural part of the work to work actively
and consciously with sustainability issues.
What do you hope will be obvious in the industry
in 10 years?
In 10 years, I hope that the majority of the games in-
dustry will work actively with social sustainability. It
may already sound like a given, but the dark headlines
around discrimination and abuses that haunt the
games industry show otherwise. The most important
thing of all is to take care of their staff. It is closest to
home and spreads positive ripples on the water.
”If we can make it easier for others to be sustainable, it
is something that everyone
benefits from.”
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

40 ACQUISITIONS AND INVESTMENTS
In recent years, investments and acquisitions have
played an increasingly larger role in the Swedish
games market.
Acquisitions and Investments
No single deal has reached the same value as
Activision Blizzard’s acquisition of mobile game
developer King for EUR 5.9 billion in 2016, but
since then, several deals have topped the EUR 100
million mark. What has been consistent in recent
years is that it has been Swedish companies that
have stood as buyers, and in the few cases where
a foreign player finances game development in
Sweden, in recent years it has more often been
investments rather than acquisitions.
Five acquisitions, where the value of the deal has
been disclosed, topped the EUR 100 million mark
in 2021. Embracer Group’s largest deal was the ac-
quisition of US-based Gearbox Software in a deal
worth over EUR one billion, which is the largest
single deal to date where a Swedish company has
been the buyer. Embracer Group also accounts
for the second largest deal with the acquisition of
Easybrain for EUR 760 million. Stillfront Group’s ac-
quisition of Jawaker landed at approximately EUR
200 million, during the year they also acquired the
American company Super Free Games Inc. EG7 ac-
quired the Luxembourg-based game publisher In –
nova for EUR 110 million. In 2021, a total of 81 public transactions involv –
ing Swedish games companies were made, com-
pared with 44 transactions in 2020. Three foreign
companies have had financial interests in Swedish
studios. Chinese Tencent invested and became the
majority owner of Stunlock Studios, Tencent also increased its holding in Fatshark through another
investment. During the year, LDA Capital invested
in Goodbye Kansas Group and UK-based Hiro Cap-
ital invested in Snowprint Studios AB.
In one third of all public transactions in 2021
both buyers and sellers were Swedish companies,
and in a large proportion the buyers were Swedish
and the sellers from another country. Many of the
sellers are located in Europe, but a larger propor-
tion of sellers are in the US than in previous years. In 2020 and 2021, there were fewer foreign buy –
ers than in previous years. In July 2021, Altor acquired a majority stake in
Raw Fury by buying out the previous owner Nord-
isk Film but also investing directly into the compa-
ny through a new share issue. Altor has previously
invested in a wide range of companies from differ-
ent industries and the acquisition of Raw Fury is a
first step for Altor into the video game sector. Many investments and acquisitions in the game
industry are made through larger groups and
large international conglomerates. But business
is also carried out through publishers, individual
investors and smaller investment companies – or
through investment funds such as Behold Ven-
tures, which is Sweden’s latest, purely venture cap-
ital fund that targets games. In 2021, Behold Ven-
tures made eight investments in Nordic companies
in the games industry.

41
Acquisitions and Investments 2021
SellerCountryBuyer / Investor Country
3D Realms Entertainment Aps DenmarkEmbracer Sweden
5 Fortress SwedenBehold Ventures Sweden
Aionic Labs Inc. USAEmbracer Sweden
Appeal Studios SA BelgiumEmbracer Sweden
Aspyr media USAEmbracer Sweden
Atomontage Inc USALoot Spawn AB Sweden
Aurora Punks AB SwedenBehold Ventures Sweden
Aurora Punks AB SwedenLoot Spawn AB Sweden
Bitwave Games SwedenEmbracer Sweden
Blue Scarab Entertainment SwedenBehold Ventures Sweden
Bright Gambit AB SwedenLoot Spawn AB Sweden
Bytex RussiaEmbracer Sweden
Carly and The Reaper Man (IP)
(from Resolution Games) SwedenBeyond Frames Sweden
CrazyLabs Ltd. IsraelEmbracer Sweden
Death Dungeon (from Victory Games) South KoreaSafe Lane Gaming Sweden
Demiurge Studios, Inc. USAEmbracer Sweden
DFS King USAWicket Gaming AB Sweden
Digic Holdings Kft HungaryEmbracer Sweden
DigixArt FranceEmbracer Sweden
Dinomite Games AB SwedenKinda Brave Publishing AB Sweden
Early Morning Studio SwedenThunderful Sweden
Easy Trigger AB SwedenEmbracer Sweden
Easybrain CyprusEmbracer Sweden
Eddaheim DenmarkBehold Ventures Sweden
Ember Trail AB SwedenKinda Brave Publishing AB Sweden
Fan of Guns (from IP Lepardin) RussiaSafe Lane Gaming Sweden
Fatshark SwedenTencent China
Firescore Interactive Private Limited IndiaEmbracer Sweden
Flat Tail Studios SwedenBehold Ventures Sweden
Force Field B.V. The NetherlandsEmbracer Sweden
Frame Break AB SwedenEmbracer Sweden
Game Labs Inc. USAStillfront Group Sweden
gameXcite GmbH GermanyJumpGate Sweden
Gearbox Software USAEmbracer Sweden
Ghost Ship Holding Aps DenmarkEmbracer Sweden
GodziLab Inc. USAStillfront Group Sweden
Goodbye Kansas Group SwedenLDA Capital, Nordea USA/Sweden
Grand Pike AB SwedenGold Town Games Sweden
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

42 ACQUISITIONS AND INVESTMENTS
Green Tile Digital SwedenEmbracer Sweden
Headup GermanyThunderful Sweden
Hello There AB SwedenLoot Spawn AB Sweden
Innova LuxembourgEG7 Sweden
Iron Throne: The Firstborn South KoreaStillfront Group Sweden
Jawaker UAEStillfront Group Sweden
Jufeng Studio ChinaEmbracer Sweden
Just for Games FranceZordix Sweden
KAIKO GmbH GermanyEmbracer Sweden
Lurkware AB (Lurkit) SwedenLoot Spawn AB Sweden
Lurkware AB (Lurkit) SwedenBehold Ventures Sweden
Magic: The Gathering Online USAEnad Global 7 Sweden
Massive Miniteam GmbH GermanyEmbracer Sweden
Maximum Games USAZordix Sweden
Merge Games UKZordix Sweden
Moonfrog IndiaStillfront Group Sweden
OÜ Fractured Byte Estonia/UkraineEmbracer Sweden
Piranha Games, Inc. CanadaEnad Global 7 Sweden
Playright Digital Entertainment UKQiiwi Games Sweden
Playwood Project DenmarkBehold Ventures Sweden
Plotagon Production AB SwedenGoodbye Kansas Sweden
Raketspel SwedenSafe Lane Gaming Sweden
5 Fortress – STRIDEN

43
Raw FuryDenmarkAltor Fund V Sweden
Robot Teddy UKThunderful Sweden
Shiver Entertainment Inc. USAEmbracer Sweden
Sideline Labs SwedenGold Town Games Sweden
Slipgate Ironworks Aps DenmarkEmbracer Sweden
SmartPhone Labs RussiaEmbracer Sweden
Snowprint SwedenHiro Capital UK
Spellscaper SwedenBehold Ventures Sweden
Spotfilm Networx GmbH GermanyEmbracer Sweden
Stage Clear Studios SpainThunderful Sweden
Stunlock Studios SwedenTencent China
Super Free Games, Inc. USAStillfront Group Sweden
Tableflip Entertainment SwedenJumpGate Sweden
Tatsujin JapanEmbracer Sweden
To The Sky SwedenThunderful Sweden
Tussilago AB SwedenThunderful Sweden
Uplandme Inc. USAG5 Entertainment Sweden
Varyag Group AB SwedenEmbracer Sweden
Wegesrand GermanyWicket Gaming AB Sweden
Zens VR (from Beyond Frames) SwedenZens VR Sweden
Coffee Stain Studios – Goat Simulator 3
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

44 WORLD MARKET
Our estimate based on download data is that at least every fourth person
has played a game created in Sweden. In total, Swedish-developed games
have been downloaded almost six billion times, and large Swedish games
regularly top the download and sales lists.
World Market
of European video game
players are women
Source: ISFE Key Facts from 2021
w
48%
The world market for games continues to grow.
According to market research firm Newzoo the global
games market enjoys an estimated annual growth of
almost 5% and will reach a market cap of almost EUR
230 billion by 2025.The players are driving growth at
the companies, and despite the shortage of semicon-
ductors, the new generation of consoles have sold
more than the last generation. The Swedish game
development companies together cover a broad base
and develop games in almost all genres and for all
established platforms, which is a great strength, and
makes sustained stable growth possible..
The European trade association ISFE, the Interactive
Software Federation of Europe, published a report in
August 2022 of the European games market, based on
data from the major countries France, the UK, Spain
and Germany. The report titled Key Facts from 2021 is
available for download at isfe.eu .
2 3 .1
Billion
on
Tw itch
Total hours watched on
Twitch 2021
17%
22%
20%
16% 24%
15 -2 4
35-44
2 5 -34
45-64
6 -14
31.3 is the aver-
age age of a video game player in Europe

45
The Games Reach
Game developers and publishers reach players all over the world with their games by,
for instance, streaming the games on different platforms. Every year, millions of people
watch others play games; in 2021 the platform Twitch had 23 billion watched hours,
games from Swedish game developers and publishers accounted for 6% of these.
Games with a Swedish association stood for 6% of all
watchtime on Twitch 2021. Top list with Swedish Games
based on most watched hours.
Swedish Games on Twitch 2021
The gaming phe-
nomenon Minecraft
is still the biggest
Swedish game
on Twitch and is
among the top 5
most watched in
the world.
Swedish indie
games released in
2022, V Rising, Core
Keeper, Midnight
Ghost Hunt and
Dome Keeper have
all seen success on
Twitch.
Swedish games
aggregated got 1.4
Billion watched
hours during 2021.
That amounts to
160,000 years.
Data powered by
Top Games Most Watched Hours Globally 2021
1. Minecraft863.3M 3. It Takes Two30.2M 2. Valheim61.8M 4. Little
Nightmares II15.5M 5. Satisfactory10.7M
6. Raft8.7M 8. Little
Nightmares7.6M 7. Hearts
of Iron IV 8.2M 9. Battlefield V7.2M 10. Bloodhunt6.8M
1.GTA 51,874M 3. Fortnite966M 2. League of
Legends1,735M 4.Valorant951M 5. Minecraft863.3M

46 GAME DEVELOPER EDUCATIONS
Learning to become a game developer can be done in
different ways. Some are completely self – taught, some
start making games in high school, but the vast majority
have furthered their education in the subject or related
subjects. The most common qualification is a post-
secondary education in game graphics, game program-
ming or game design at one of the country’s colleges,
universities or higher vocational educations.
About one third of all people who work at games
companies work in programming. Almost as many work
in various graphic arts professions. A large proportion
also works on design, level creation, mechanics and
game worlds that make up the game. On top of that,
there’s everything from QA testers, community man-
agers, producers, marketers, analysts, and a range of
other professional roles both game-specific and more
general. In October 2022, the independent initiative
SwedenGameJobs.com listed ads for 654 vacancies at
game companies in Sweden. Some high school programs focus on game develop-
ment. For example, students from LBS won Sweden
Game Awards in 2018 and 2019. There are also several folk high school courses at the
upper secondary level. Among those who do not also
do post-secondary education are Bona folk high school
in Motala, which collaborates with Female Legends, as
well as Framnäs folk high school in Öjebyn and Solviks
folk high school in Kåge, which are linked to Arctic
Game. Games have also become a focus of adult education
in several locations. Spelkollektivet conducts a muni-
cipal adult education in Tingsryd municipality with a
focus on games. In Luleå there is an adult education
Learning to become a game developer can be done in different ways. Some
are completely self-taught, some start making games in high school, but
the vast majority have furthered their education in the subject or related
subjects. The most common qualification is a post-secondary education in
game graphics, game programming or game design at one of the country’s
colleges, universities or higher vocational educations.
Game Developer Educations
by FCV with a game focus, and in Boden an Indie Game
Dev training in collaboration with Futuregames. In an increasing number of places in the country,
games have taken their place in cultural schools. For
example, in Lomma, Malmö, Luleå and Stockholm. There are also other types of training. The
Game Assembly runs a short Higher Vocational
Education distance course titled Digital Project
Game Management, which started in
December 2021 with the first batch of
students. House of Minds does post-sec-
ondary diploma training, including
an education in the Unreal engine in
partnership with Epic. Blekinge Institute of Technology
has for several years offered several
game educations in Karlshamn, but
in 2022 these did not commence
due to a shortage of teachers. In August 2022, the Swedish
Games Research Council was
formed, which brings together
computer game researchers
from eight colleges and
universities in Sweden, as
well as from RISE. The Council
is probably the first of its kind
in the world. Are you missing a pro-
gramme on the list? Get in
touch with us at the Swedish
Games Industry.
4
5
7 8
12 11
9

47
NORRBOTTEN  1
Boden
Sunderby folkhögskola
Indiespelutvecklare
Changemaker Educations AB
Futuregames game artist,
Futuregames / game tester,
Futuregames speldesigner,
Futuregames spelprogrammerare
Luleå
Luleå tekniska universitet
Civilingenjör Datateknik,
inriktning Interaktiva system
VÄSTERBOTTEN  2
Skellefteå
Luleå tekniska universitet
Datorgrafik för spel och film,
Högskoleingenjör Dator spels-
programmeringChangemaker Educations AB
Futuregames game & ux designer,
Futuregames game artist,
Futuregames game programmer
mobile platforms,
Futuregames spelprogrammerare,
Project manager it & games,
Skellefteå kommun Vuxen-
utbildningen / Visual Magic
Vfx-artist: 3d-visualisering och
digital compositing
VÄSTERNORRLAND 3
Sollefteå
Hola folkhögskola
Indiespelutveckling
DALARNA 4
Falun
Tension Education AB
Playgroundsquad, upplevelse-

och speldesign,
Playgroundsquad, upplevelse-
och spelgrafik,
Playgroundsquad, upplevelse-
och spelprogrammering
VÄRMLAND 5
Karlstad
Kristinehamns folkhögskola
Indiespelutvecklare,
Changemaker Educations AB
Futuregames game artist,
Project manager it & games,
Futuregames game programmer
mobil platforms,
REGION STOCKHOLM 6
Huddinge
Södertörns högskola
Spelprogrammet – inriktning grafik,
Spelprogrammet – inriktning
speldesign och scripting
Stockholm
Stockholms universitet
Kandidatprogram i datorspels-
utveckling Changemaker Educations AB
Futuregames game artist,
Futuregames game designer,
Futuregames game designer,
Futuregames Immersive
Experience Creator,
Futuregames spelprogrammerare,
Forsbergs Skola
Forsbergs, spelutvecklare – game
programming
TGA Utbildning AB
Leveldesigner,
Spelgrafiker,
Spelprogrammerare
Botkyrka
Botkyrka kommun / Xenter Botkyrka
Vfx-artist
ÖSTERGÖTLAND 7
Linköping
Linköpings universitet
Civilingenjör i mjukvaruteknik,
Högskoleingenjör i datateknik
Valla folkhögskola
Valla Game Education,
VÄSTRA GÖTALAND 8
Gothenburg
Chalmers tekniska högskola
Interaction Design and

Techno logies, Msc Progr
Göteborgs Universitet
Game Design & Technology
master program
Göteborgs Stad, Yrgo
Game creator artist,
Game creator programmer
Skövde
Högskolan i Skövde
Dataspelsutveckling – 2D-grafik,
Dataspelsutveckling – 3D-grafik,
Dataspelsutveckling – animation,
Dataspelsutveckling – design,
Dataspelsutveckling – Game
Writing,
Dataspelsutveckling – ljud,
Dataspelsutveckling – musik,
Dataspelsutveckling – program-
mering,
Digitalt berättande: spel och
kultur arv – magisterprogram, Games user experience –
magister program,
Serious Games –
magister program,
Spelutveckling – masterprogram
REGION JÖNKÖPING 9
Jönköping
Ädelfors folkhögskola
Indie Game Studio

GOTLAND 10
Visby
Uppsala universitet
Kandidatprogram i speldesign,
Kandidatprogram i
speldesign och grafik,
Kandidatprogram i speldesign
och programmering,
Kandidatprogram i speldesign
och projektledning,
Magisterprogram i speldesign,
Masterprogram i speldesign
BLEKINGE 11
Karlshamn
Blekinge tekniska högskola
Design av digitala och
immersiva upplevelser
Karlskrona
Blekinge tekniska högskola
Civilingenjör i spelteknik
SKÅNE 12
Vellinge
Östra Grevie Folkhögskola
Virtuell kompositör och
ljud designer
Malmö
Malmö Universitet
Spelutveckling
TGA Utbildning AB
Leveldesigner,
Spelanimatör,
Spelgrafiker,
Spelprogrammerare,
Technical artist
Higher Game Education
Longer CSN-eligible game education at post-secondary level
commencing in autumn 2022
SPELUTVECKLARINDEX 2022
 1
2
3
10
6

48 ENTREPENEURSHIP AND NATIONAL COLLABORATIONS
In a growing industry, the demand for regional support functions,
commitment and collaboration with education and local business
is created. In recent years, several regions, often thanks to local
enthusiasts, have invested in game development and local
entrepreneurship. Investments that produce results in the form of
start-ups and job creation throughout the country.
Entrepreneurship and
National Collaborations
Arctic Game is a fast-growing game cluster based in
Västerbotten and Norrbotten. With a common platform
for the development of new game studios, company
establishment, education, meeting places and invest-
ments in Norrbotten and Västerbotten, the cluster
has become a base for successful game creation in
northern Sweden. A major educational investment in
the region has led to more education programs being
started, and there are now 18 post-secondary educa-
tions scattered in different professional categories at
university, folk high school and HVE with a total of 800
students in the autumn of 2022, an increase of 30%
from 2021. The region’s first game incubator, Boden
Game Camp, started in Boden. During the year, Arctic
Game held a Game Jam, Femmejam, only for women
and non-binary people and a networking event, Female
Meetup, for women, trans and non-binaries in the
games industry with the aim of building networks.
The cultural event Nordsken and the associated Arc-
tic Game Week could once again be held in May 2022. In Västernorrland, a completely new cluster has been
built up – Game On Mid Sweden – based in Sundsvall
and Kramfors, and is based on a project funded by the
European Fund for Regional Development together
with Region Västernorrland, as well as the munici-
palities of Sundsvall and Kramfors. During the year,
the project has carried out several activities such as network meetings, workshops with established industry
players, lectures in collaboration with NTI Gymnasiet
and a Skill Up Program to educate people who are
interested in entering the industry. In the autumn of
2021, Hola Folk High School in Kramfors started a new
education in game development.
Since its inauguration in August 2017, East
Sweden
Game has built up an ambitious community in Öster-
götland, and in 2021 the third round of the ESG Accel-
erator was held, a series of lectures with experts and
guests with the goal to make participants go from
hobby developers to game entrepreneurs. In the au-
tumn of 2020, East Sweden Game started its own game
Valiant –
KreatureKind

49
education together with Valla folk high school, Valla
Game Education. During the year, a collaboration was
also initiated with the podcast Spelskaparna and they
have jointly released several interviews with people
from the industry. In 2021, Linköping Game Week was
held for the first time during 22-28 November. The
week includes LiU Game Conference, Winter Game Jam,
Atomic Café (arcade game weekend) and afterwork at
Kappa Bar. In 2022, member Pugstorm released the
game Core Keeper which sold 500,000 copies in two
weeks.Visby is home to one of Sweden’s oldest game ed-
ucations run by Uppsala University Campus Gotland.
Alumni from the training include the founders of games
companies Nexile, Neat Corp, Toadman Interactive,
Enad Global 7, Redbeet Interactive and Pixel Ferrets.
The incubator Science Park Gotland has also run
game-related projects over the years. One example is
Game Camps, which was an international collabora-
tive project that gave game developers from Sweden,
Finland, Estonia and Latvia an opportunity to learn
about the game industry. The main purpose of the
project was to give the participants knowledge about
the games industry and arrange Game Jams that would
lead to new companies and business opportunities.
Game Camps engaged nearly 300 participants and 10
new cross-border companies were formed, an example
of commercial success being the game Death & Taxes by
Placeholder Gameworks. An additional game release expected from the pro-
ject is Birds With Feelings by Birdpals.
Midway between Oslo and Stockholm, lies The
Great Journey, Karlstad’s hub for game development.
Supported by Embracer Group, the hub currently
has several teams and studios under development,
some in the accelerator and two studios in Fasttrack,
with the possibility to finance nine months of game
development with the help of CSN. The Great Journey
also offers a range of events and activities, such as
Friday Stories, a presentation and Q&A session with
industry profiles sharing their experiences. Alongside
Futuregames, the hub offers training in games; more
are expected in the autumn of 2022. The Great Journey
supports several initiatives around inclusion and diver-
sity where, for example, women in the computer game
industry are highlighted but also around mental health
and they have hosted game jams especially to invite the
LGBTQ+ community to the industry. Falun has the traditional game education Play-
GroundSquad, which for over 20 years has graduated
students in game graphics, game programming and
game design. During the year, a record number of
students applied for the education so the number of
places was expanded. Here, the games industry works closely with the
more traditional Swedish industries such as paper, steel
and the hospitality industry with how digitization, gami-
fication and the knowledge from the game industry
Hiber – HiberWorld
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

50 ENTREPENEURSHIP AND NATIONAL COLLABORATIONS
can be used to develop and become more attractive
to, for example, future labour. During the year, a new
company with a focus on the traditional sports world
also started.
Stockholm got its first game incubator in 2017 when
Sting opened. Sting Game has three companies in the
incubator program. As a complement to Sting Game,
there is a co-working space at Embassy House and
regular meetups. Partners of Sting Game are Goodbye
Kansas, Resolution Games and Paradox Interactive. Since 2004, The Game Incubator has successfully led
incubators for game companies in Skövde, and since
2016 is also located in Gothenburg. Over the years, the
game incubator has produced about a hundred compa-
nies, and is a major contributing factor in Västra Göta-
land being a strong breeding ground for game com-
panies. In the business park you will find companies
such as PocApp, Coffee Stain Studios, Stunlock Studios,
Flamebait, Pieces Interactive, Redbeet Interactive and
Ludosity with titles such as Goat Simulator, Satisfactory,
Battlerite, Castle Cats, Passpartout, Raft, Slap City and
Valheim. Skövde is the base for the Sweden Game Are-
na project, which has made several export investments
at game fairs and international conferences, and in the
city, Sweden Game Conference is also arranged annual –
ly in October with speakers from all over the world. In 2022, Skövde Science Park launched the Interlink
initiative together with Arctic Game, The Great Jour-
ney and Game Habitat to support newly started game
companies in their journey towards an international
market. The project was co-financed by the Swedish
Agency for Economic and Regional Growth. In southern Sweden, Gameport has long run success-
ful incubator operations in Karlshamn, part of Blekinge
Business Incubator. In Malmö, the interest association
Game Habitat works in collaboration with Region Skåne
and the City of Malmö to grow the local game commu-
nity. The success of the work is noticeable in both the
number of employees and the number of new com-
panies that can be seen in the region. The office hotel
Game Habitat opened in 2018, DevHub, has survived
the pandemic and was up to full capacity in 2020. Gothenburg company Thunderful opened a Malmö
studio in 2020 and industry veterans started new
companies such as She Was Such a Good Horse and
Section 9 Interactive in 2021. In 2020, Game Habitat also
started GASS, Game Accelerate South Sweden, a game
accelerator with support from the European Regional
Development Fund, and GEM, a network for women in
the games industry, in 2021.
Itatake – Gumslinger

51
Hi Emil Sandberg, Business Developer at Boden
Game Camp! You have been up and running since
2017, tell us about how you help students and game
studios with your incubator.
The game industry is completely unique in its corpo-
rate journey compared to other industries, therefore
we needed a pure game incubator in Norrbotten.
Boden Game Incubator helps driven game developers
to step over the thresholds that can be difficult in the
beginning: acquiring share capital, creating start-ups,
acquiring equipment, grants for marketing and senior
mentors as guides. But most importantly we collect no
immediate royalties. The incubator is there to create
local indie successes where we would rather see their
journey completed than take early-stage royalties,
something that usually hampers game studios.After the incubation period, all studios should be
prepared to take the next step by acquiring an investor
or publisher.
How many courses are there in Boden and how
many students are welcomed each year?
Today, there are seven different game training pro-
grams with 300 students from all over the world train-
ing in the same house. The upper secondary school
Future Games has invested in a pure three-year game
education, with Future Games and our own programs,
THE INDUSTRY VOICE EMIL SANDBERG
Business Developer, Boden Game Camp
”By 2026, Boden as a city
will have over 1,000 people
active in the game industry.”
young students can pursue a five- year educational lad-
der and develop good skills.
Most of the courses have joint game projects and this
is part of the core of what we want to build at Boden
Game Camp. Developers, companies and driven people
meet each other and good things happen.
Why should you start a game studio in Boden?
If you are a studio that wants to expand and wants an
effective On-Boarding, a process that is usually quite
extensive and time consuming, then we at Boden Game
Camp can help with the whole process. A campus that
provides quality, students, developers, HR, recruitment,
finance and business development are literally in the
room or house next door. We offer the solutions that game studios demand, all
so that the studio itself can continue to expand.
What is your goal with Boden Game Camp?
By 2026, Boden as a city will have over 1,000 people active
in the game industry. We want to build a self- sustaining
industry that makes it possible for companies to estab-
lish themselves where we cover its needs. Students and
workers move here, not only because of the industry, but
also for the lifestyle that Norrbotten offers. We also aim to become the Nordic QA hub, as we have
training and QA Studios located at Boden Game Camp.
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

52 GAMES INDUSTRY IN EUROPE
Games Industry in Europe

15 19 3744
45 4652
54
56 67 9011
8 12
0 12
1 12
5 159 16
0 20 0 42
4 44
0
59 1 667 780
2 16 3
Antal bolag
Norway
IcelandEstoniaSlovakia CroatiaLithuania TurkeyLatviaPortugal Belgium AustriaCzechia SerbiaBelarusRomania Denmark ItalyFinland Poland SpainGermany SwedenFrance UK

18 8 304 32 6 36
8 380 50 0 60
3 72
6 76
5 87
0 98
3 1 093 1 60
02 07
42 10
03 600 6 00
06 59
68 026 9 71
010 07
115 000
Antal
anstŠl lda
Latvia
Estonia CroatiaNorway IcelandAustriaBelarusBelgiumLithuania SlovakiaDenmark Portugal ItalyCzechia SerbiaFinlandRomania Sweden SpainPolandGermany France
Employees by Country
Number of Game
Companies by Country
EGDF (European Game Developers Federation) and ISFE (Interactive
Software Federation of Europe) released an industry report on game
development in Europe in 2022. It is a compilation of the different
countries’ industry reports from 2020, where some reports are based on
surveys and some on data collected from official registers.
15,000 2,163
10,071 780
9,710 667
8,026 591
6,596 440
6,000 424
3,600 200
160
159
125
121
120
118
90
67
56
54
52
46
45
44
37
19
15
2,100
2,074
1,600
1,093
983
870
765
726
603
500
380
368
326
304
188
2020

53
SystemRevenue by Country in M EURDinomite Games – Go Fight Fantastic

10 22
2538 55
72
77
779012
0 15
6 21
7 219
96 9 1 01 5
2 016 2 115
2 40 03 60
03 83
0
0
OmsŠ ttning MEUR
Portugal
LatviaAustria EstoniaNorwaySlovakia CroatiaBelgium ItalySerbiaLithuania CzechiaRomania PolandSpainTurkey Sweden FinlandGermany
France

15% 16.2%
19% 20
%2 0% 20% 21.4
% 22
%2 2%23
%2 3%23% 25
% 30
%
An del kvinno r
Norway
Iceland
Lithuania
Slovakia
Ireland
Italy
Czechia
Serbia
Finland
Romania
Sweden
SpainPoland
France
Percentage of Women
Working in the Industry
Revenue by country in M EUR
Bitwave Games – Zero Wing Embark Studios – The Finals
30%
25%
23%
23%
23%
22%
22%
21,4%
20%
20%
20%
19%
16,2%
15%
3,830
3,600
2,400
2,115
2,016
1,015
969
219
217
156
120
90
77
77
72
55
38
25
22
10
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

54
The Clash of the Titans
Enables Trend Shift
With the introduction of the new generation of consoles into the market,
Microsoft gained a new perspective. The number of consoles sold no
longer became the primary measurement of success, but rather the
number of subscribers to their game service Game Pass.
For countless years, platform owners have been the
big stable growth winners in the games industry, while
game publishers and developers have had a bumpier
road to success. I will focus here on the PC/console
market and how subscription services from the big plat-
form giants can possibly make life ”better for everyone”
or well, at least for most…In the film industry, the transformation of the last
decade is evident. On the big screen, superheroes and
other well-known brands dominate at the box office.
The dark horses often end up on a streaming platform.
In the game industry, we can see similar patterns, but
also significant differences. For the game consumer,
the range of offers has never been greater; competi-
tion creates diversity. Despite the fact that 65% of all
revenue in the industry ends up in the hands of the ten
largest global players, the diversity of games on offer is
greater than ever.
Top-down Industry Still
Creates Diversity
Microsoft and challenger Epic Games have proven to be
the two players who most frequently spend big for ex-
clusivity rights for their platforms. There are countless
examples where half or all of the development budget
has been funded from these two giants. The better the
content the game developer is expected to contribute,
the more generous the potential profit sharing has been when the costs are paid. In many ways, I dare
say that this has strengthened the indie scene, which
means that many game projects that previously would
not happen, are now receiving the capital needed to
be realised and thus create further innovation in the
games industry.
The downside of this trend can of course be that
the concentration of wealth at the top increases
every year, which means that the giants can steer the
innovation in the direction they themselves prefer
to a large extent. However, the fully open and digital
competitive landscape gives developers opportunities
to find publishers and funding elsewhere. It is also
possible to finance and publish the game yourself, but
this involves taking risks not everyone can afford.  
Natural Evolution Awaits
But does the development of subscription services
really benefit all game developers? I’m leaning towards
a yes on that question, at least for smaller game devel-
opers. As a developer, you can manage the financial
risk with this option, and hopefully at the same time
control the creative freedom sufficiently for everyone
to be satisfied enough.For medium to large game developers/publishers,
my answer is more uncertain. The increased competi-
tion within the industry leads to higher budgets in more
popular genres of games. At the same time, players’
THE CLASH OF THE TITALNS ENABLES TREND SHIFT

55
GUEST ARTICLE BY
TOMAS OTTERBECK
Head of Equity Research, Redeye
willingness to pay may decrease for games that do not
”have to be purchased”, as there are many options in
subscription services. For us consumers, this means
that quality increases while the prices of games stay at
reasonable levels. But for those players in the industry
who do not have time for development, the future will
be more difficult.  
Safe Harbour During Recession
Historically, the games industry has been relatively un –
affected by economic cycles. Many games provide good
value for money. However, the mobile game industry,
which makes up just over half of the games market, is
still a relatively new industry that has not experienced a
major economic downturn, which in my opinion makes
it more uncertain. When Sony and Microsoft released their new
consoles at the end of 2020, they raised the prices of
games by about 20%. Recently, Sony even raised the
price of the PS5 by 10 percent. Just before the summer,
Sony started to seriously compete with Microsoft Game
Pass, introducing two new subscription tiers to their
Playstation Plus service, where the highest tier is twice
as expensive as the original one. If Microsoft succeeds
in the purchase of Activision Blizzard some observers
say a price increase for Game Pass is to be expected.
However, this is not nearly as certain in my opinion, as
they currently probably prioritise subscription growth. Since inflation concerns started at the beginning of
the year, there has been loud talk about consumers
not being able to afford more streaming services, as
shown, for example, in Netflix’s declining numbers.
This, in turn, has led to the subscription business
model being questioned as a viable alternative in
times of recession by the investor community. A big
difference between Netflix and game subscription
services is that the consumer is platform dependent,
making it impossible (unless they buy new hardware)
for the consumer to jump between different services
on a monthly basis. At the same time, all subscriptions
offered by console suppliers offer online gaming,
which has continued to increase in popularity since
the pandemic. For these two reasons and because
of the higher quality content being offered by the
subscription services, I do not see any major down –
ward adjustments in the price of the subscriptions. As the content war escalates between the giants,
the qualitative value will increase for the consum-
er of the subscription services. Both Microsoft and
Epic have also lowered distribution fees in recent
years, improving the profitability potential of game
publishers/developers. The increased competition
at the top among platform owners can thus mean
a trend shift where the best game developers are
rewarded even more. May the best content win!
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

56
Eat Create Sleep – Among Ripples Shallow Waters
SUSTAINABILITY

57
A majority of the population in Europe plays video
games, with this fact comes a responsibility for
how the games and game development affect the
environment and climate.
Sustainability
The shift to digital distribution leaves a lower carbon footprint than physical distri-
bution, but server operation and hardware are still a factor to be reckoned with.
Online games over servers where the game itself is powered by local software is
more energy efficient than, for example, video streaming, but the cloud gaming of
the future requires greater access to renewable energy to become sustainable in
the long term. The Finnish trade association Neogames have made a model for
game developer studios’ calculating CO2 emissions.In recent years, several initiatives have emerged around Europe whose purpose
is to raise sustainability issues and help companies work with sustainability.
PlayCreateGreen is an initiative founded in October
2020 where several large Nordic games companies
together with the Swedish games industry are
involved in supporting the work of creating and
spreading knowledge about the environment and
climate change and what companies can do to be
involved in driving activities that lead to a more
positive climate impact.
In 2021, Green Games Guide was founded by Ukie,
Games London and the UN’s Playing for the Planet
Alliance with the aim of helping companies improve
their approach to sustainability.
The German trade association GAME has developed
an environmental guide aimed at helping those in
the computer game industry who are looking for
practical tips and best practices for game compa-
nies to become more climate friendly. Three out of
four German game companies are involved in the
initiative.
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

58 THREATS AND CHALLENGES
Threats and Challenges
The Swedish game development companies have continued
to grow during the year and increased both in terms of net
turnover and in the number of employees and as an industry
have proven to be resilient to several external threats such as
the pandemic and previous economic fluctuations. But there
are several challenges that the industry needs to address in
order for growth to continue.
Cov id -19
The pandemic has affected Sweden and the world in
many ways. Several industries have been hit hard, peo-
ple have fallen ill, and many have lost their jobs.
The computer games industry, together with other
home entertainment industries, has been spared from
the biggest financial consequences and for many com-
panies sales have increased. As the world shut down,
more people worked and studied from home, and re-
strictions made many other activities impossible, more
people found their way to the world of games. Games
have also been a way to socialise and hold on to a social
life where it has not been possible to meet physically. The effects of the global pandemic continued in 2021,
although more and more countries began to open up.
For the companies, the pandemic has led to new ways
of working and many report that in 2021 they continued
to work remotely. A major challenge was to find the
”new normal” when the opportunity to go back to offic-
es came and many have chosen hybrid models where
employees work both remotely and in offices. Some events were cancelled or postponed at the
beginning of 2021, but during the second half of 2021,
several took place, many in hybrid format. In 2022,
however, several major events could take place. GDC
was held on site in San Francisco in March 2022, in
Sweden, Arctic Game Week was held in Skellefteå and
Nordic Game Conference in Malmö in May. Globally, you can see the effects of the pandemic,
among other things, in that many titles that were to be
released in 2021 have been postponed to 2022. There
are also discussions about strategies around releasing games in a recession or whether to postpone further
so as not to suffer from falling sales figures. This mainly
applies to major titles from established studios.
Ukraine
Several Swedish companies have hundreds of employ-
ees in Ukraine and when Russia again attacked the
country in early 2022, several initiatives were started in
the industry to help Ukrainian game developers. Sev-
eral large companies with staff in the country donated
money to aid organisations, redeployed employees to
safer regions, and offered workplaces in other coun-
tries to the extent possible.
A global initiative where over 700 game developers
joined forces and sold their games in a bundle on Itch.
io which included over 1,000 games. In March 2022, it
was reported that 450,000 copies had been sold and
over USD 6 million had been collected. The European trade association EGDF, the European
Game Developer Federation, of which the Swedish
Games Industry is a member, has been active in sup-
porting the country’s game developers both practically
and through a clear message that the invasion should
be condemned.
Inflation
In 2022, inflation has risen globally and this has also af-
fected prices for both new consoles and major games. Sony announced in the second half of 2022 that it will
increase the price of the Playstation 5 in all markets
except the United States due to the economic climate

59
and inflation. However, both Microsoft and Nintendo
soon after stated that there will be no price changes on
their consoles. Ubisoft announced in September 2022 that it is rais-
ing the price of its latest AAA games. The reason is said
to be both inflation, increased production costs and
that previous prices are no longer profitable. Both increased electricity prices, hardware prices
and production costs may affect prices for games in the
near future. Most likely, the market has not yet seen
the effect of the increased production costs as it may
be reflected in the games that are in development right
now and are set to be released within the next few
years.
Recruitment
In 2021, 1,301 people were newly employed in Sweden,
but there is still a great lack of skills, and it is clear that
the supply of domestic labour is not enough to satisfy
demand.. Significantly fewer game developers gradu-
ate each year than there is demand for, even though
more courses have been set up around the country.
The industry recruits to a large extent from other coun-
tries, and it is difficult for newcomers to find housing
and get work permits. It is estimated that at least one
third of employees in the domestic industry has moved
to Sweden for work. In many of the larger companies,
almost half of the employees are foreigners.The pro-
cesses and lead times for work permits became even
more difficult in 2022 where many employees risk work
bans when reapplying for permits, and the Migration
Agency only grants six month work permits for proba-
tionary periods. The work within the industry on diversity and equal
opportunities has meant, among other things, that
more women have been employed and the recruitment
base has increased. But this work, as well as the skill
development of existing personnel, also needs to be
further developed so that the industry can continue to
grow.
Work Environment
A clear challenge is the work environment. The industry
as a whole works to constantly improve working con-
ditions, but does not always fully succeed. The games
industry is not immune to occasional poor leadership, bad corporate culture and workplace problems, which
are things we are constantly trying to improve. During
the year, there were reports of misconduct in Swedish
workplaces, something that interested parties have
taken seriously and are continuing to work on. At the
same time, there are challenges with many young
new employees, cultural clashes with employees from
different backgrounds in an international environment,
and creative projects where many strong wills need to
coexist. The games industry is also largely a consum-
er-oriented industry, where contact with players can
have a major impact on product development, which
comes with both benefits and challenges.
Financing
Access to capital has improved, but if you look at the in-
vestments that have taken place in the Swedish market,
just as in the previous year, a clear majority comes from
companies that are already well-established in the in-
dustry. The inflow of new capital can be improved, and
not least in the early stages it is still remarkably difficult
to find financing. It particularly affects companies that
do not have an existing strong network of contacts, and
risks becoming an obstacle to innovation and diversity
in the industry in the long term. In competing countries
such as the US, Canada, the UK and Finland, there are
long-established financing structures, tax breaks and
other forms of support to give start-ups an edge in
international competition. For Swedish companies, the
lack of a Swedish equivalent in practice means a barrier
to trade with the outside world. Within the industry,
there is also a need for increased business competence,
not least in small and new companies.
Flamebait Games – Passpartout 2
Ember Trail –

Distant Bloom
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

60 METHODOLOGY
This report is a compilation of annual reports from the Swedish
Companies Registration Office’s Business Register and data
from Statistics Sweden’s business register, from limited
liability companies that have game development, publishing or
specialized subcontracting functions as a significant part
of their business.
Methodology
This report is a compilation of annual reports from the
Swedish Companies Registration Office’s Business Reg-
ister and data from Statistics Sweden’s business reg-
ister, from limited liability companies that have game
development, publishing or specialised subcontracting
functions as a significant part of their business.
Examples of subcontractors include Elias Software
(adaptive audio engine), LocalizeDirect (localization/
translation of games) and a large part of Goodbye Kan-
sas’ VFX business. Companies mainly focused on mon-
ey games such as poker, gambling or casino games are
not included in the selection. In previous reports, turnover from the consolidat-
ed financial statements have been the basis for total
turnover. Following evaluation of similar reports within
Europe, we have as of this year chosen to report na-
tional group turnover based on parent companies and
Swedish subsidiaries. Group turnover, including foreign
subsidiaries, is reported separately in global sales. This
is done to get a fairer picture of how Swedish compa-
nies are doing and to get a comparable report both
with other industries and the same industry in other
countries. Comparative figures from previous years have been
revised up to and including 2016 to give a fair picture of
growth. The report is based on annual reports which are pub –
lished in SEK and the exchange rate used to calculate
the EUR rate is 10.1449 SEK per 1 EUR which was the av-
erage exchange rate for 2021 published by the Swedish
central bank. As of last year’s report, data has been collected from
Statistics Sweden on all limited liability companies
registered under NACE 58.210 – Publishing of computer
games. On June 15, 2022, there were 1072 active com-
panies. Among these companies, 372 have since been
excluded as they have been found to have main opera-
tions in other industries, mostly casino games or other
software development, during our manual review. In addition to companies registered under NACE
58.210, we have manually identified companies that
belong to the video game industry, but which are regis-
tered under other NACE codes, mainly 62.010 – Comput-
er programming. The largest company in this category
is the game studio EA DICE. Retailers or pure distributors, such as the Swedish
office of Bandai Namco, are not included in the report
despite their importance to the industry. The report
also does not include companies with e-sports as a
player or audience activity as the main focus, for exam-
ple Dreamhack or individual e-sports professionals. The main part of the report deals with limited liability
companies. A small review of other forms of enterpris-
es can be found under the chapter on the number of
companies. Several companies have broken financial years. For
these, the latest available annual report has been used
and for the larger companies, a review has been made
for the number of employees in December 2021 to get
as up-to-date a picture as possible of the total industry. One consequence of this is that Embracer Group is
one year ahead of, for example, EA DICE and Ubisoft

61
Sweden, which should be noted in the top list of largest
companies.In isolated cases, such as in the case of newly formed
or reconstructed companies, the annual report has
covered a period longer than 12 months. In these cases,
data for the full year has been used as much as possi-
ble. In this year’s report, this only concerns a handful of
smaller companies. Data from Statistics Sweden’s business register was
collected on 15 June 2022 and includes key data from
2021. The method as a whole has several shortcomings.
There may be more companies that should be in the re-
port but aren’t included because we don’t know about
them. The manual selection opens up for mistakes, and
there is a grey area with companies that are difficult to
assess. The strength of the method is that the docu-
mentation is audited and publicly reviewed through the
authority’s publication. The manual selection allows us
to ensure that all major companies are included and
the industry receives a more representative data base
regardless of NACE code. For companies that in Statistics Sweden’s business
register have no registered turnover or employees, the
annual report has not been obtained from the Swedish
Companies Registration Office. In 2021, there were 96
such companies. Data on the number of employees and gender distribution from the business register have
been supplemented from the annual reports when this
has been available.
In some cases, the annual report has been submit-
ted late in the year, which is often a recurring pattern.
In these cases, the annual report for the last year is
reported. In total, there are 75 companies whose annual report
has not yet been registered at the time of publication
for this report, which means that the figures presented
for these companies are from 2020. The total turnover
of these companies is approximately 0.8% of the total
turnover, which means that the impact on the total
report is marginal. The largest company to which this
applies is Localize Direct AB. Two reports have been used as a basis for compari-
son data in Europe. One is ISFE & EGDF Key Facts 2022,
which is mainly based on a survey commissioned by
ISFE from the research institute ISPOS MORI. The sec-
ond is the 2020 European Video Game Industry Insights
Report from EGDF which is based on national industry
reports; for Sweden the data source is last year’s game
developer index. Both of these reports were published
in August 2022 and are available to download and read
in full on isfe.eu and egdf.eu respectively. More details about the selection and method of the
key figures can be found in each chapter.
Eat Create Sleep – Among Ripples Shallow Water
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

62 GLOSSARY
Glossary
AAA: Triple A, a popular term for
elaborate games with big budgets
and large staff numbers, usually
released by the biggest publishers
in the industry, primarily through
physical distribution.
AI: Artificial Intelligence – in its
simplest form it controls characters
in a game with path finding and
flow charts. More modern AI with
methods such as machine learning
in neural networks is a growing area
within video games.
Alpha: Signifies the phase in soft-
ware development when the prod-
uct is ready for software testing.
AR/Augmented Reality: Direct or
indirect viewing of a physical envi-
ronment, with elements augmented
(or complemented) by computer
generated sensory input (audio,
video, graphics or GPS data).
Beta: The phase following alpha. It
is often during this phase that the
software is available for consum-
er testing for people outside the
development team. These external
testers are called beta testers.
Casual games: Games of a simpler
kind. They often have minimal sto-
rylines, shorter learning curves and
are designed to be played in short
segments. Cloud gaming: Also known as
gaming on demand, a type of online
game that allows streaming of a
game hosted by the servers of the
operator or developer. This means
a game can be played without the
need for a console or optimal com-
puter performance, as all calcula-
tions are carried out elsewhere.

Core: A term used to describe
games made for more self-aware
players or “gamers”.

CPM: Cost per mille, cost of a thou –
sand advertisement impressions.

Crossplay: Enabling a game to be
played simultaneously on different
platforms.

Crowdfunding: Financing of a pro-
ject through crowdsourcing. In re-
cent years this has been expressed
through various web platforms that
collect their financial support for
various projects from interested pri-
vate individuals or companies.

Crowdsourcing: Outsourcing to an
undefined group of people, rather
than paid employees.
DAU: Daily Active Users; the num-
ber of unique users per day.
Digital distribution: Sales of digital
software through digital channels. DLC:
Downloadable content; down –
loadable add-ons for video games,
often on a smaller scale than classic
“expansions”.
Early Access: Games released for
sale in an early development phase
before the official launch.
Freemium: Collective term for a
business model where the product
or service is offered free, but where
the player has the possibility to un –
lock advanced functions and virtual
objects or bypass waiting times, by
means of micro transactions.
Free-to-play/free2play: Games
that offer the user to play the game
free in its basic version, but where
the income is instead generated
through adverts, or the option to
unlock the full version for a fee.
Game Jam: Brief event where
developers meet and create games
together during a limited time, of-
ten with a particular aim or theme.
In-app purchase: A purchase made
in an app or game, rather than
externally or through a linked pay-
ment system. The goods purchased
usually consist of new levels,
equipment, experience points or
subscription services.

Indie: from “independent”. A prefix
Adventure
Box

63
characterising games from inde-
pendent developers, usually with
a narrower scope than big budget
productions such as AAA-titles, with
few involved in the development
process. Lately, indie represents
the stream of developers that have
reached a wider audience thanks to
digital distribution, which has made
them financially viable.

IP: Intellectual Property, the imma-
terial rights of the company, often
used in the video game industry to
describe a concept, trademark or
anything within the framework.

MARPPU: Monthly Average Reve-
nue Per Paying User

MARPU: Monthly Average Revenue
Per User

MAU: Monthly Active Users; the
number of unique users over 30
days.

Middleware: Software used to
develop games. Middleware acts
as a “glue” between two existing
software components.
Micro transactions: A transaction
involving smaller sums, carried out
online. There are different defi-
nitions of the amount of money
they can consist of, but in the
games business the term is used to describe payment of for example
DLC and in-app purchases.
Off-shoring:
Outsourcing interna-
tionally.
On-shoring: Outsourcing within the
country’s borders.
Outsourcing: To hire external
personnel and specific competence
from other companies. Production
tasks for other companies.
Retail: Games sold in a physical
retail store.
Serious games: Games with a
principal purpose other than enter-
tainment. It can refer to simulators,
exercise games, learning games,
rehabilitation games or commercial
games, so called advergames.
Smartphone: Collective term for
cell phones with a large computing
capacity, with graphical screens and
internet connection. Popular oper-
ating systems are Android and iOS.
Social games: Collective term for
social network games, for example
Mobage and Facebook.
Soft Launch: Att smyglansera ett
Soft launch: To launch a game in
certain markets to evaluate engage-
ment. Streaming:
Direct playback of digi –
tal media simultaneously transmit-
ted via the internet.
Studio: Game development com-
pany or a division within a game
development company, e.g. at
another location
Virtual goods/items: Term refer-
ring to virtual objects, such as those
existing in video games in the form
of puzzle pieces, weapons, cosmet-
ics or other items.
VR/Virtual Reality: A way of
being visually enclosed in a game
experience, often with the help of a
goggle-like accessory often referred
to as VR-goggles.
XR/Extended Reality: Umbrella
term for technologies that enhanc-
es/changes the users’ perception of
their surroundings, these include
AR and VR.
Adventure Box
GAME DEVELOPER INDEX 2022

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