TERRITORY REPORT: NORDIC
retail, but the big franchises sell more and perform exceptionally well such as FIFA, Battlefieldand CoD,” says Koch Media’s Nordic GM Martin Sirc. “So big is getting bigger, while many other titles are struggling. It’s core gamers that are loyal, while many who just played Wii Fit, SingStaror Guitar Herohave consoles and peripherals gathering dust. “It’s a challenge to maintain the new audience. Games like Just Danceappeal to a broad audience, but it’s not enough to offset the big drop in the segment.”
A TASTE FOR TABLETS
The rise of digital is one example of how tech savvy Nordic audiences are. “The Nordic people are early adopters and many bought iPhones and iPads before they were officially available in each country,” says Sirc. “There’s close to half a million iPads in Sweden, Norway and Denmark respectively. So there’s big interest in iOS gaming and a lot of local talent such as Angry Birdscreators Rovio. “This interest in smartphones may have affected a quicker downfall of PSP, which is almost non-existent in Nordic, with the exception of Finland. It will be a challenge for PS Vita, which must offer plenty of must-have titles such as Unchartedto be able to convince the market and the gamers.” Despite the similarities across the Nordic markets that help firms bring their product to all four countries, there are some quirky differences. “The Finnish consumers are differing a bit from their Nordic neighbours,” explains Jönsson. “Ice hockey is huge so the NFLseries was in the Top Three in 2011. They are also crazy about karaoke, so the SingStareditions with Finnish music have been hugely successful.” These differences mean publishers
can’t use typical one-size-fits-all strategies when establishing a strong presence in the region. “It’s four different countries,” warns Sirc. “There are similarities in culture and language, but it’s different legislation, retailers and customs. Norway is not a part of the EU, Finland has age rating legislation, harmonised with PEGI, but requires attention. It’s a big territory, but actually four individual countries, so it’s not as easy as just setting up a Nordic office.”
38 March 16th 2012
NORDIC: AT A GLANCE MCV Nordic editor Mats Nylund offers an insight into the biggest issues facing the region DIGITAL VS PHYSICAL
An ongoing change, not only for the region, is of course DLC and how it slowly changes the retail sector. A lot of people still buy games in physical stores, and for consumers that collect boxed copies this will never change.
But looking down the road there will be changes on not only how distributors work with retail, but also how physical stores will become more like showrooms for hardware or game demos. Swedish developer Paradox Interactive is a digital distribution pioneer. It has done a lot to push the Nordic countries forward with the creation of its digital distribution platform, Gamersgate. Gamersgate has since been established as a standalone digital distributor.
DOMINANT PLATFORMS In the Nordic region, the PC is definitely the strongest platform. Sweden started building the infrastructure for telecom very early. As a result, LAN-parties and games tournaments in schools’ computer rooms are common. A lot of the best professional gamers in the world are from Nordic countries, and primarily from Sweden. Sweden and Finland in particular have very good broadband connections for little money, which has probably helped the PC and online distribution get as big as it has in the region.
As far as consoles go, the Xbox 360 is the most visible, while Wii and Nintendo’s various handhelds seem to have sold extremely well but are perhaps not as well supported with software.
GAMES DEVELOPMENT The biggest challenge for many companies and studios has been finding the talent.
One of the problems is studios often seek very general talent rather than specific expertise. Some studios grow very fast, some of them lacking the ability to handle the change which has resulted in some companies vanishing totally and others being forced to lay off lots of people. A lot of new developers try to tap into the mobile phone market. The main problem there seems to be that you have to both release a quality product, and not charge more than $1.
This can lead to new developers either releasing subpar games or trying to jack up the price, failing miserably in both cases.
Mats Nylund is editor of MCV Nordic, a new trade site dedicated to the video games industry in the Nordic region. You can contact him at
Mats.Nylund@intentmedia.co.uk
“
Xbox 360 Total
The Nordic countries have small
populations but consumers are digitally savvy and love gaming. Make sure you have a strategy for DLC.
Magdalena Jönsson, GfK
SOFTWARE SALES BY PLATFORM Platform
Nintendo DS Nintendo 3DS Nintendo Wii PC
PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 PSP
Volume 2011 1,521,784 200,260 1,442,749 3,104,083 395,835
3,777,826 122,078 2,177,071
12,741,686
Volume 2010 1,349,656 N/A
1,678,201 3,715,782 904,489 3,402,175 197,711
2,129,317 13,377,331
Value 2011 €49,312,314 €9,236,963 €60,653,619 €80,166,416 €6,206,001 €174,141,575 €2,223,740 €96,393,554 €478,334,183
Value 2010 €48,812,177 N/A
€80,484,114 €97,154,551 €18,926,456 €172,842,974 €5,036,238 €102,634,031 €525,890,543
Source: GfK. Includes Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark
www.mcvuk.com
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