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Press release:
April 27th, 2017 – After a successful year, the Finnish game industry was celebrating at the Finnish Game Awards Gala in Helsinki tonight. Gala’s highlights were Supercell’s double victory, sentimental influencer award and people’s choice award to the indie game that celebrates Finnish eccentricity.

A total of ten awards were presented during the gala evening. The Finnish Game of the Year 2016, the Small Screen Game of the Year 2016 and the Big Screen Game of the Year 2016 were selected by the members of the Finnish Game Developers’ Association. The Applied Game Award 2016 was selected by the Serious Gaming Cluster Finland Association. The Creative Achievement of the Year 2016 and the Finnish Rookie of the Year 2016 were chosen by the board of the Finnish Game Developers’ Association. And finally, the Sensation of the Year 2016 was picked by the Neogames Finland Association.

After a year’s break, the influencer award for a life’s work in the Finnish game industry was given to Pelit magazine’s emerita editor-in-chief Tuija Linden. IGDA Finland also presented their recognition to the Volunteer of the Year Minna Eloranta. Gaming magazine Pelit gave away their traditional “Kyöpeli” trophy to the People’s Choice Game of the Year 2016. The winner was My Summer Car from Amistech.

The Finnish Game Awards was organized by the Finnish Game Developers’ Association and the Neogames Finland Association. The gala evening was sponsored by the game studios Remedy Entertainment, Next Games, Supercell, Unity Technologies Finland, Rovio, Fingersoft, Colossal Order, Dodreams and Redlynx.

The gala evening’s recorded video stream can be found at www.neogames.fi/gaala.

This year’s winners at The Finnish Game Awards were:

The Applied Game Award 2016: Augmented Climbing Wall / Valo Motion Oy

The Valo Motion’s Augmented Climbing Wall transforms the climbing wall into a gaming platform and diversifies the climbing performance. The Augmented Climbing Wall is an excellent example of how gamification can be combined with an already existing activity and create completely new experiences. For more information, visit www.augmentedclimbing.com.

The Finnish Rookie of the Year 2016: Kopla Games

There are currently approximately 250 companies in the Finnish game industry. According to Neogames, a total of 45 new companies were founded in 2015 – 2016. The Finnish Rookie of the Year 2016, Kopla Games, was founded in 2015 and its game Nonstop Knight was released in June 2016. In August of the same year, Nonstop Knight’s German publisher, flaregames, acquired Kopla Games. For more information, visit www.koplagames.com.

The Sensation of the Year 2016: The Finnish Museum of Games

The Finnish Museum of Games, opened in Tampere’s Vapriikki, offers its visitors an opportunity to explore the history of Finnish games in a versatile and comprehensive way. In addition to the games, there are interiors of different ages, enabling the visitor to return in time to the years when life and gaming were different. This museum is a nearly compulsory site for all gaming enthusiasts. For more information, visit www.suomenpelimuseo.fi.

The Best Creative Achievement of the Year 2016: Alienation / Housemarque

Housemarque’s Alienation is a pure-blooded representative of its game genre, a rigorous and entertaining package full of action. Housemarque has the ability to create visually glorious worlds and especially the particle effects of Alienation deserve a high rating. For more information, visit www.housemarque.com/games/alienation/.

The Big Screen Game of the Year 2016: Quantum Break / Remedy Entertainment

Finland’s PC and console games’ flagship company is Remedy and its latest game is the Quantum Break. It offers full visual, narrative and gameplay experience. Quantum Break combines familiar elements of games and TV series in a new way. It’s a trendsetter far into the future like Remedy’s previous games. For more information, visit www.remedygames.com/games/quantumbreak/.

The Small Screen Game of the Year 2016: Clash Royale / Supercell

Supercell’s Clash Royale is a mix of collectible card games, tower defense and real-time strategy. The combination of new and old things has previously proved to be a successful combination and the international success of Clash Royal proves the formula once again. For more information, visit www.clashroyale.com.

The Main Award – The Finnish Game of the Year 2016: Clash Royale / Supercell

Supercell’s Hay Day started the Finnish domination of the global download and earnings lists and now Clash Royale continues it. Even though the extremely tough competition in 2016, Clash Royale succeeded in pushing in to not only the year’s most popular mobile game worldwide, but also The Finnish Game of the Year 2016. For more information, visit www.clashroyale.com.

More information
Gala photos: http://bit.ly/2oQOF9B
More photos coming later: www.neogames.fi/gaala
Finnish game industry report: http://www.neogames.fi/fgir2016/

Neogames Finland Association

Neogames Finland is a member-based non-profit game industry organization. Our mission is to accelerate, coordinate and support the development of the Finnish game cluster. Neogames’ members represent all sectors of the game industry from business to education and research. Neogames is an impartial umbrella association, and we serve the shared interests of all industry players. Our aim is to provide a solid and growth-oriented operating environment for the Finnish game industry as a whole.

Suomen Pelinkehittäjät ry / Finnish Game Developers’ Association

Suomen Pelinkehittäjät ry – Finnish Game Developers’ Association in English – is the national association of Finnish game studios. Our mission is to serve as a cooperative body, promoter and trustee of the Finnish game developer studios.

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