Nordic Game Work: A Comparative Study of Finnish and Danish Game Professionals

This research contribution presents the exploratory findings of a comparative study into how people working in the Finnish and Danish game industries reflect on their own work conditions. Based on two online surveys distributed to Danish and Finish people working in and around games, as well as subsequent qualitative follow-up interviews, our findings reveal several different aspects of their work in games. Among these are 1) their satisfaction with both salary levels and longevity of working in Denmark or Finland 2) their relation to geography, unions, and discrimination 3) the position of Finland and Denmark in the global games industry between North America, Eastern Europe, and South and East Asia. We both describe and compare these different aspects to show how Danish and Finnish people working in the game industries share similar experiences, but also differ despite both being Nordic countries. This comparison thereby helps reveal the specific characteristics of what it means to work in the Nordic countries that are usually structured by welfare state cultural policies and how it impacts the practice of making commercial games in an otherwise global games industry.