MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Norway may have a limited local games market, but investment in the industry is paving the way for growth.
While Norway has one of the highest GDPs in the world at $80,749 per capita (almost double the UK’s $45,653), its game market is limited by its relatively small size; with just over five million residents, fewer people
live in Norway than London.
Norwegian developers commonly focus on debuting straight on the world stage in order to attract the audience they need for economic stability. Games to have made a splash in the global marketplace recently include Among The Sleep, The Secret World and Teslagrad. However, with a dearth of local publishers, studios are often forced to market and distribute their own titles worldwide.
Despite this, the government invests heavily in new business, with the Norwegian Film Institute having recently doubled its financial input into the sector to 20 million Krone (1.7m).
While the formation of organisations such as the Norwegian Game Developers Guild has helped the industry to mature, up-to-date figures are still difficult to come by.
The most recent Norwegian games industry overview was by the Scandinavian Game Developers and Norwegian Film and TV Producers’ Association in 2012. The survey estimated that the total revenue generated by Norwegian games firms was over 200 million Krone (17m) in 2012. Further to this, market tracker Newzoo reports Norwegian consumer games revenue as having reached 1.75 billion Krone (148.4m) by the end of 2014.
Population: 5,109,059
Capital City: Oslo
Currency: Krone
GDP (Per Capita): $80,749
KEY RETAILERS
Coop, Platekompaniet, GAME
TOP DISTRIBUTORS
Nordic Games, Creative Distribution, Nordic Game Supply
TOP DEVELOPERS
Krillbite Studio, Rain Games, Funcom, Red Thread Games, Dirtybit, D-Pad Studio, Turbo Tape Games, Ravn Studio
PUBLISHERS IN THE REGION
Ubisoft, EA, Nordic Games, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo
