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Press release:
May 25, 2022.
The Finnish game industry celebrated it’s traditional The Finnish Game Awards gala on May 25th (2022), and the “Returnal” game from Housemarque won two awards at the gala.

The gala celebration took place in the magnificent banquet hall of Restaurant Töölö in Helsinki. Many exciting moments were experienced when the 10 different awards were presented to games, game developers, game industry influencers and volunteers.

The evening was crowned by the Finnish Game of the Year 2021 award. It went to a PlayStation 5 hit game Returnal from Housemarque. In addition to the grand prize, Returnal won the Big Screen Game of the Year 2021.

The grand prize winner Returnal is one of the most prestigious Finnish games of all time. It has won many significant international awards in many categories over the past year. These include the BAFTA Games Awards, The Game Awards, D.I.C.E. Awards and Golden Joystick Awards.

The Small Screen Game of the Year 2021 award was given to Pako 3 from Tree Men Games. It is a successful continuation of the company’s “escape games” series. Other award-winning games included the Applied Game of the Year 2021, Full ADHD from Psyon Games, and the HypeHype game from HypeHype, which was awarded the Creative Achievement of the Year 2021.

The Rookie of the Year 2021 award was presented to Kitka Games from Kajaani. Their game Stumble Guys has been a remarkable success in the international game market. Jani Kahrama, the father of the Pelimetsä project, and Taina Myöhänen, the chairperson of the board of We in Games, which promotes the diversity of the game industry, were awarded the Power Player of the Year 2021.

“Year 2021 was a success story for the Game Industry of Finland on almost all measures, and the turnover of the industry is expected to grow by 15–20 percent to close to three billion euros,” commented KooPee Hiltunen, Director of Neogames.

“From an economic, creative, technical and community point of view, the Finnish game industry is in top condition despite a two-year remote working period and the challenging world situation. We can expect even more success in the coming years. This is especially true if we can address the labor challenges for international workers.”

The gala also saw for the first time a unique award designed specifically for the game industry. The Finnish Game Developers Association made the award in cooperation with the Finnish Artists’ Association. The award has been designed by visual artist Anssi Pulkkinen, better known for his large public sculptures.

In addition to the actual FGA awards, many other awards were presented at the gala. Finnish Game Jam, which supports game development as a hobby, handed out the Jampion of the Year award to Satakunta FGJ. Kristo Juurinen was awarded as the Volunteer of the Year 2021 by the Finnish branch of the International Game Developers’ Association (IGDA). The grand prize for the student game competition Bit1 was presented to Normogames for the game The Riflemen.

The practical arrangements for the gala were handled by the Suomen pelinkehittäjät ry (Finnish Game Developer Studios Association) and Neogames Finland in co-operation with the event agency Tapaus. The 2022 game gala was sponsored at the platinum level by Housemarque, at the gold level by Colossal Order, Next Games, Redhill Games, Rovio Entertainment, Seriously Digital Entertainment and Small Giant Games, and at the silver level by Dreamloop Games, Fingersoft, Lightheart Entertainment, Ubisoft RedLynx, Skunkworks and Quicksave Interactive.

The gala celebrations can be viewed at https://youtu.be/imzk4dVRuE0.

The winners of the Finnish Game Awards 2022
Power Player of the Year 2021: Jani Kahrama / Pelimetsä ja Taina Myöhänen / We in Games
Applied Game of the Year 2021: Psyon Games / Full ADHD
Rookie of the Year 2021: Kitka Games
Best Creative Achievement of the Year 2021: HypeHype / HypeHype
Big Screen Game of the Year 2021: Housemarque / Returnal
Small Screen Game of the Year 2021: Tree Men Games / Pako 3
Grand prize: Finnish Game of the Year 2021: Housemarque / Returnal

More info
https://neogames.fi/fi/fga22winners/ (winner backgrounder)
www.playfinland.fi (Finnish game industry backgrounder)
https://1drv.ms/u/s!Avh8gGYzxU_viJ0_zTulwOe5Hfqvmg?e=pEJ8V8 (photos)

Jonas “O.J” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround