Swedish Games Industry Generates €7.8bn including Subsidiaries

The Swedish games industry is thriving, with Swedish companies experiencing rising revenues both domestically and through international subsidiaries. This trend, alongside the growth in the number of companies and employees, is highlighted in the latest annual report by Dataspelsbranschen.

While the global gaming industry has faced layoffs, Sweden’s games industry enjoyed a positive year in 2023, according to the new report from the Swedish Games Industry Association, Dataspelsbranschen. It reports that Sweden’s gaming industry generated SEK 36.6 billion in revenue — approximately €3 billion — representing a 6.4 percent increase over the previous year. This turnover has effectively doubled over the past five years.

The revenue generated by Swedish companies, including all global subsidiaries, is also noteworthy. This includes companies like Germany’s InnoGames and Plaion, owned by MTG and Embracer, respectively. According to Dataspelsbranschen, total revenue including all subsidiaries rose to SEK 90.4 billion, or roughly €7.76 billion, a 4.5 percent increase from the previous year.

"2023 was a year when many companies restructured, and the media reported setbacks in the industry. That’s why it feels especially positive to see how the industry continues to grow. Despite fewer investments and reduced access to capital, Swedish game development companies remain stable," says Johanna Nylander, Head of Analytics at the Swedish Games Industry Association. Sweden’s gaming industry also showed positive development in other areas: in 2023, 108 new companies were founded, bringing the total to 1,010 active gaming companies that year. Of these, 196 game studios had five or more employees, according to the report’s press release.

The number of employees is estimated to have increased by 644 people, or nearly 8 percent, in 2023. Swedish-owned companies employed 9,089 people in Sweden and an additional 15,792 people abroad last year.

Per Strömbäck, CEO of the Swedish Games Industry Association, comments: "Diversity is the greatest strength of Swedish game companies. We create a wide variety of games from different companies for a diverse audience. From simple puzzles to intricately detailed strategy games, from children’s games to age-rated titles. Large and small, technically groundbreaking or elegantly simple—the Swedish game industry encompasses it all."

The full report is available for download on the Dataspelsbranschen website in both Swedish and English.