Sweden – small on the map but big in games
Despite having a population of only 10.23 million, the Scandinavian country of Sweden is well known for its esports reputation. With players like Gustav “S4” Magnusson,Ludwig “zai” Wåhlberg, and Johan “Pieliedie” Åström coming out of Sweden, it’s clear that the country develops some of the globe’s top esports talent.
Overall, it is clear that Sweden is leading the way in computerized technology, with computer literacy being adopted from a young age. This factor, alongside an abundance of industry role models, future job prospects and community respect meant that more people than ever are now itching at the chance to take up gaming as a career.
Mojang, King and DICE – all Swedish. Here’s the success of gaming in Sweden summed up.
As for popularity, whether it is professional or purely for entertainment purposes, there are an abundance of resources available for future generations to get into video games industry.
A passion for e-sports spectatorship
The Swedish population not only takes e-sports seriously as a career where they pursue higher education, but also as an important pastime. A recent study conducted in 2018 has found that Sweden is the second biggest market in Europe for e-sports consumption, based on merchandise purchases and brand interactions reported by sponsors.
Mojang, King and DICE – all Swedish. Here’s the success of gaming in Sweden summed up.
One billion players
It is estimated that around one in four people in the world has played a game made by Swedes. No wonder then, that gaming in Sweden is booming. The growth in the Swedish games industry from 2010 to 2020 was substantial, to say the least – there was a 25-fold increase in total revenue: from EUR 130 million to EUR 3,312 million, according to the Swedish Game Developer Index.
From subculture to success
In the very early days of video games, successful international companies mainly came from Japan, the US and the UK. Then, in Sweden, a subculture emerged in the early 1980s called the Demo scene. People used early home computers such as the Commodore 64 and Amiga to show off their programming skills through audio and video shows.
One example is Digital Illusions, now DICE. It was started by four friends from the Demo scene in 1992, when they released cult hit Pinball Dreams followed by the hugely successful Battlefield franchise. As of March 2021, more than 140 million people played Minecraft every month. In this popular sandbox game, which is developed by Mojang Studios, players build 3D worlds with different types of blocks and then explore and craft items in their new world.
The gaming culture
Swedish YouTuber PewDiePie has more than 100 million subscribers, DreamHack is the world’s largest digital LAN festival. Sweden has several players in the world elite and the country is the second largest e-sport market.
Swedes are experienced computer users
In 1998, home computer access received a further push through a government and union initiative that used subsidies and tax incentives to allow employees to affordably lease personal computers with an option to buy. This helped increase computer literacy among the public. It also got more people into computer games.
Early internet access, early gamers
Connectivity got an early start in Sweden, with ambitious government goals for broadband access across the country.
High-speed internet has most likely played an important role in Sweden’s development as a nation of gamers and game developers.
Startup-friendly
In 2020, 81 new gaming companies were started in Sweden. It probably helps that there are startup hubs and gaming clusters to help new businesses kick off.
Sweden is also one of the top ten most competitive countries in the world, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index (its last pre-pandemic ranking). The ranking is based on the country’s relatively stable economy over time, a high rate of ICT adoption and its high innovation capability and business dynamism.
It’s not a wild guess that the success of early risk takers inspires the next generation. DICE, Mojang, King and other billion-dollar companies – so-called unicorns – serve as an incentive.
Good test market
Operating in a small domestic market such as Sweden has its advantages. One is that developers start to focus on the entire western market much earlier than developers from more populated countries.
Another benefit is that it makes it much easier to ‘soft launch’ a product. That means a company can start by releasing a game in Sweden, get feedback and fix bugs, before going global.
