Continued investment in successful game incubator

It has surely not escaped anyone’s notice that Swedish video game developers are meeting with great success on the global market. And it bears repeating: One out of every ten people in the world has played a Swedish video game. In the face of global competition, Swedish game companies have successfully created gaming experiences for several hundred million players around the world, and the number of new game companies continues to grow. To take one of many examples, the UK newspaper The Guardian recently named the 11 best games at Gamescom 2017. Four of these games were developed in Sweden (The Swedish Game Industry’s Swedish Game Developer Index 2017–2018).

To promote the start-up of more competitive game companies, The Game Incubator was established in Gothia Science Park in Skövde in 2004. Proving to be a successful venture, more than 100 game companies have got their start in The Game Incubator since 2004. Thanks to The Game Incubator, promising new entrepreneurs get the chance to grow in an environment that offers access to expert knowledge, business coaches and other resources on favorable terms.

Projects aimed at finding new target groups

In 2015, The Game Incubator tested its concept in Gothenburg, opening a subsidiary in Lindholmen Science Park — an initiative aimed at increasing the number of game companies and further strengthening the gaming industry in Region Västra Götaland.

“There is experience, scope for growth and a different demographic in Gothenburg, where entrepreneurs are often a little older and more experienced. Gothenburg is also home to a strong gaming community and several established market players, so testing the concept there felt like the perfect move forward,” says Kenneth Johansson, Head of Operations for The Game Incubator in Skövde and Gothenburg.

After an evaluation of the operations in Gothenburg, The Game Incubator has now been granted new funding from the EU and Region Västra Götaland to continue its work. The purpose of the continued investment is to promote the creation of more video game companies that will grow and create job opportunities, thereby strengthening the attractiveness and competitiveness of Västra Götaland by finding new target groups and offering needs-based and gender-inclusive approaches and processes for evaluating game ideas and starting companies. The investment is also a way of contributing to increased equality and integration in the video game industry as a whole.

“Our primary target group for the new project is women and men with different cultural backgrounds or variations in physical ability and/or life situations who have business ideas related to video games and the desire and ability to start and run a gaming company in Gothenburg or Skövde and to develop products and services for a global market,” Kenneth Johnson says.

From game idea to a market-ready game company

As a result of the new project, The Game Incubator’s offering has been further developed, and companies are now being offered a long-term program in which guidance, coaching and business development play a central role. The goal is for game ideas that are accepted into the incubator to become mature gaming companies 15 months later, ready to go further with their product portfolio under their own management with the business knowledge required.

In addition to being given access to workplaces at either of The Game Incubator’s offices in Skövde or Gothenburg, the companies also take part in a program divided into three phases.

The first phase, which lasts three months, involves evaluating and testing the game idea in the market. At the end of the period, the products are pitched before a jury that includes potential investors, much like in the TV program Shark Tank.

The projects that then go further after the pitch enter phase two, which lasts six months. During this period, the focus is on the company learning what is needed to run a business: running a game studio, production management, marketing, finances and other elements necessary to succeed as a game company.

Lastly, the project enters the third and final phase, in which the focus is on strategic work, management and team development. This phase also lasts six months.

Another new feature of the project is that The Game Incubator is now supported by several established video game companies.
“These include THQ Nordic, Goodbye Kansas, Stunlock Studios, Coffee Stain Studios, Image & Form and Zoink, which will provide additional expertise and experience in a number of areas specific to the video game industry. These seven companies will also provide mentor support and form an advisory board for evaluating game ideas and game companies during the pitches,” Kenneth Johansson explains.

A hot market for investors

It is not only the number of game companies being started that show the market is hot but also the demand among investors for suitable companies to invest in.

“So far, several of the game companies have gone further with investors in order to grow more, which is precisely what we had hoped for. During their time in the incubator, the companies have laid a foundation, honed their offering and polished their product portfolio, so they can then go further with new capital,” says Christian Riedl, Business Coach at The Game Incubator in Gothenburg.

About The Game Incubator

The Game Incubator is run by Gothia Innovation AB, the company that runs and develops Gothia Science Park in Skövde. Its establishment in Gothenburg is taking place in partnership with Gothia Innovation AB and Lindholmen Science Park. The project will run through 2020 and is being financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth and Region Västra Götaland.

Read more about the Game Incubator