What the Finnish animation industry has to offer to the Finnish game industry.

In today’s seminary “Games as a Business and Engine of Economic Growth” at Finnish Pikkuparlamentti there was a pleasant, weird mix of people and topics, with panelist from Government financing R+D organization (Kari Korhonen from TEKES), the education sector (Juha Huhtakalio from Metropolia), and game developers (Jyri Partanen from IGDA & Remote Control Productions). There was also a magic, Skype-based presentation by Yu Andoh directly from Japan about localization of games for the Japanese market. The seminar was organised by people from Aalto University and some members of the Parlament from the Video Game Society and the Japan Friendship Society of the Finnish Parlament. Such variety was not unnoticed: an American person in the audience spoke up and wished to see this kind of initiatie in his home country.

During the session, there was a recurrent question: How can the Finnish game industry -currently worth 3 Billion- impact other industries? As an answer, educational games and gamification were discussed. I couldn’t help thinking of the synergies between the game industry and the animation industry represent for Finland.

The current 270 Finnish game companies have now access to the competitive advantage that animation and character development provide as brand differentiation. There is more talent and expertise in animation production in Finland today than there has ever been, thanks to the animation adventure of Rovio with Angry Birds Toons and other series, and the patient efforts that talented independent producers, summoned around the Finnanimation asociation, have done through the years. It is an unique situation for a country of this size. Yet, it is a fragile industry.

Most independent animation companies’ access to funding is still too modest for them to enter the international market, despite the valuable support which YLE, SES , AVEK, and MEDIA CE have historically given to the industry. That is the reason why so many animation productions never happen or stay local.

The Government should recognise the cultural and long term economic value of the incipient Finnish animation industry, seize the opportunity and encourage collaboration with all sizes of game companies. Although the benefits may not be evident in the short term, in the long term they can make the difference between a country that produced some hughely succesful game titles or a country that founded some solid long-lasting franchises.

By participating in the development and growth of games brands, animation companies can benefit from the disruptive, global mindset game companies have by definition, thus modernize themselves and increase their competitiveness in the audiovisual marketplace.

In his closing words Jyrki Kasvi wished for a certain Finnish flavour in Finnish games. After all, Finland is the land of Moomin, unconventional artists and designers and a “very peculiar” sense of humor. I am sure a little of mutual polution of the animation and game industries would result in letting this rich flavour out in the future.