Rovio’s CSO on building a forward-thinking Finnish games industry

• Pocket Gamer Connects heads to Helsinki on October 7th to 8th.
• Rovio chief sustainability officer Heini Kaihu believes Finland’s games industry has proved itself Resilient amid tough times.
• Kaihu says the industry needs to protect itself from overly strict regulation based on misunderstanding digital and games business fundamentals.

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Pocket Gamer Connects heads to Helsinki next month on October 7th to 8th.

As we lead up to the big show, we’ve been reached out to speakers and local companies to get their views on the Finnish games industry.

We spoke with Rovio chief sustainability officer Heini Kaihu about the state of the sector, immigration laws in the country, and how Finnish games companies can meet ambitious targets.

PocketGamer.biz: How would you assess the Finnish games scene at the moment?

Heini Kaihu: Resilient. Despite facing the same headwinds that have been witnessed across the global games industry over the past couple of years, Finland’s game industry remains fundamentally strong and resilient.

The established players – companies like us, Supercell, and Remedy – continue to perform well and maintain their global presence.

Over the past few years, Finnish companies have increasingly mastered live operations, which has helped us continue growing very successful mobile franchises  hat were launched years ago.

The indie scene is more vibrant than it’s been in years, with smaller studios exploring innovative concepts and new platforms. There’s a palpable sense of companies actively seeking fresh opportunities, whether through emerging technologies, new distribution channels, or untapped markets.

The combination of Finland’s strong technical talent, proven track record in mobile gaming, and appealing Nordic work-life balance continues to attract both local and international talent.

What opportunities do you see in Finland’s games industry?

Finland offers a unique combination that’s hard to replicate elsewhere: we have this incredible concentration of mobile gaming expertise combined with a tech-savvy population and strong engineering culture.

What’s particularly valuable is that the big Finnish games companies are accustomed to working with global talent. This experience gives us a clear advantage when developing games for worldwide audiences – it is easier to understand the needs of different markets because our teams reflect that diversity.

Rovio turned 20 last year and we have built a genuinely diverse work community with an inclusive culture, which isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s also smart business when you’re creating products for global audiences.

The talent pipeline is strong. Finnish universities are producing world-class game developers and engineers, and we’re seeing international talent choosing Finland not just for career opportunities, but for the quality of life – clean environment, excellent work-life balance, strong social systems, and a culture that values innovation and long term thinking over quick wins.

And what challenges do you see?

The challenges are pretty much the same as we’ve faced previously. We’re still a small country, and as big companies continue to grow, they’re looking for more specialist workforce than we have domestically and than our schools can produce.

The industry continues to need specialist talent from outside Finland – at Rovio, we’re proud to have 54 nationalities working at our Espoo office, which really demonstrates this reality.

As mentioned earlier, Finland remains an attractive hub for the games industry, boasting a safe and family-friendly environment; however, we must work actively to maintain this position. It’s not something we can take for granted.

What is your outlook for the sector? If we speak again in five years, where do you hope Finland’s games market to be?

The Finnish game industry’s share of global game industry turnover was around 1.8% in 2023, and according to our national strategy (by Neogames), we’re looking to increase or at least maintain that share, which would mean at least doubling the industry turnover by 2030.

This means that established companies like us and others need to keep growing our business with existing and new games, and most likely, we also need new companies with global hits.

I believe this is doable, but it requires that we build this ambition level into everything we do – talent development, game concepts and production, and also how the games industry is viewed from government and funding perspectives.

We need to protect the industry from overly strict regulation based on misunderstanding digital and games business fundamentals, while ensuring it’s recognised as a valuable export sector.

This means building forward-thinking, innovative programs to boost growth rather than hinder it.

What more do you want for the country’s games scene? I.e. more support from government, more investment in general?

We need policymakers who understand that gaming is a sophisticated technology sector requiring specialised talent, significant R&D investment, and the flexibility to respond quickly to global market changes.

This means protecting the industry from overly strict regulation based on misunderstanding digital and games business fundamentals. These regulations might work for traditional industries but could stifle innovation in ours.

At the same time, we need the industry to be recognised and supported as a valuable export sector that brings significant revenue and international recognition to Finland:  we at Rovio are creating games, but also currently producing our third Angry Birds film.

Having created a globally recognised IP is a huge deal for a small country like Finland.

This should mean building forward-thinking, innovative support programs – whether that’s through targeted funding for scaling startups, immigration policies and e.g. personal tax incentives that help us attract international talent, or tax incentives that encourage long-term investment in game development.

What’s your assessment on the situation of the investment landsacpe in Finland’s games industry?

The sentiment in the industry seems to be that securing investment is harder than before. The old mobile “scale up with money” model isn’t very functional anymore, due to high user acquisition costs and uncertainty around regulation in that space.

Investors are looking for new  approaches to the game business; perhaps this could come from more technical innovations, which would make the Finnish market quite interesting given our strong tech foundation.

How has the changes to Finnish immigration law impacted the country’s games
industry?

The big change is that if an employee with a work-based residence permit becomes unemployed, they have to find a new job within either three or six months depending on the type of work permit they hold and how long they’ve been in the country. Previously, they were allowed to stay until the expiry of their work permit.

This initiative was first introduced a couple of years ago. Rovio, the entire Finnish game industry, alongside many other industries, naturally strongly opposed the whole idea, and we still do.

The good news is that almost all game industry employees fall into the six-month category due to their specialist status, but this sends a very wrong signal overall.

Even though the talent needed  in our industry is very much welcomed and needed, the policy creates unnecessary uncertainty for the international professionals we’re trying to attract.

Who do you see as the key players in the Finnish games scene in 2025?

The established pillars remain strong: Supercell continues to be a global powerhouse, Remedy has built an incredible reputation in its own category, and we at Rovio, with the Angry Birds brand, continue to be a significant force when it comes to creating transmedia games and experiences.

While we’re expanding our presence to new locations like Barcelona, our roots are firmly in Finland, and we’re committed to investing in our presence and business here.

Beyond the big names, a vibrant ecosystem of established and new players demonstrates that Finland can produce hits across various game categories and platforms.