Swedish gaming stronger than ever
Sweden is one of the leading countries in the world when it comes to the development of internationally respected and accessible games of the highest quality. The market has expanded with new target groups and new distribution opportunities for game developers, while large foreign players such as Rovio (Angry Birds) and Ngmoco have opened offices in Sweden.
With AAA productions – large development projects with large budgets – such as Battlefield and small independent projects such as Minecraft, the Swedish gaming industry positioned itself as one of perhaps ten nations in the world producing games for a global audience.
Dalarna attracts talented and devoted students to the various institutions for game development. Consequently, the region can offer skilled personnel and unique gaming related resources, such as art, programming and design, which add up to a complete supply chain for the gaming industry.
Game developers with strong technical skills
Swedish game developers have strong technical skills and a great entrepreneurial approach. Combined with the Swedish way of empowering employees and delegating decision-making, this ensures a bottom-up problem-solving approach, which has shown impressive results in terms of productivity in the gaming industry.
The Swedish gaming industry possesses a unique position with innovative mobile and social media games, independent game developers with great technical skills and enormous export successes. Sweden’s future as a top gaming nation depends on training and educating the right number of game developers with the right level of skill and expertise.
Dalarna’s institutions for game development offer high quality education, unique specialization and access to the GameCubator.
High quality education
PlaygroundSquad is a game development institution that is a part of the Higher Vocational University, located in Falun in Dalarna. For more than 14 years, it has successfully graduated students specifically focused on computer games within the areas of graphics, programming and design. PlaygroundSquad provides the Swedish and international gaming industry with talented staff.
In addition to the education provided at PlaygroundSquad, the students get access to the GameCubator. GameCubator’s goal and function is to help new companies reach both a national and an international market. Together with Dalarna University, PlaygroundSquad offers a Sound and Music Production Program, with a unique specialization in sound and music for video games.
Center of excellence
PlaygroundSquad Higher Vocational University for Game Development is located in Falun, Dalarna. PlaygroundSquad was one of the first partners selected for Sony Computer Entertainment’s Worldwide Academic Advisory Board’s Playstation First program. The partnership enables early access to development kits for the AAA studios only. PlaygroundSquad was also the first education establishment that got to publish games on the Playstation Store.
In January 2014, PlaygroundSquad established the first gaming school of its kind at the Sharp Project in Manchester, UK, in cooperation with Manchester City Council, Greater Manchester College, and the local developers Firesprite Ltd and Sony Computer Entertainment.
Why Dalarna?
Swedish developers have proven to be at the forefront with regards to adapting their game experience to different platforms. In addition to the successful big name titles, a new wave of games is being developed for mobile phones, social media and download. However, in order to maintain this position, high-quality education and research methods within gaming are necessary.
Dalarna’s institutions for game development offer high-quality education with unique specializations. More and more foreign companies are recognizing the potential of Swedish game developers, with growing numbers of foreign companies opening offices in Sweden or following through with Swedish acquisitions. Dalarna and Falun have great potential as a future innovative gaming hub. With talented game developers, programmers and designers in the area today – ready for the opportunities of tomorrow!
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