Study reveals Finland has the world's best gamers
Finally, something to be cheerful about – Finland ranks number one for worldwide gaming! In a study conducted by Kwalee, a data-focused mobile gaming publisher, Finnish players came out on top above the likes of the US, Japan, and Canada.
Even sweeter is the fact that Sweden is third on the list, two places below Finland. More than 42,000 achievements from over 16,000 games were evaluated by the gaming publisher to determine the leaders of the virtual world.
Of course, now that you know which country is the king of gaming, you also want to understand why.
The all-rounder
An interesting fact to come from the research is that Finnish gamers didn't top the charts for any game in particular. As you would expect, the Japanese are superior with regards to combat games, while the United States users took the title for best at first-person shooters. Even the likes of Norway and the UK, nations that were relatively low down the list, are ranked number one for Tetris and sports games, and Tekken, respectively.
Apart from Halo, players from Finland didn't win coveted titles and trophies, according to the Kwalee team. They did, however, score consistently over a range of genres. Compared to the rest of the world, Finland is a country of reliable gaming all-rounders with skills to pay the bills in every department.
Recent releases
Not to take away from our nation's outstanding achievements, yet it is worth noting that the data only revolves around the month of April 2020. As a result, there are caveats to consider, the main one being the fact that categories in which Finland-based players excel in are all the rage at the moment. From Halo to Half-Life, Tomb Raider, and Gran Turismo, there are distinctively more of these classifications around than any other grouping.
As SVG points out, this means the table could change in the not-too-distant future. For example, if more one-person shooter games are released, you should expect America to fly up the rankings, whereas if fighting games are popular, Japan could overtake Finland. For now, while Finland is leading the way, let's not bother about ifs and buts. Let's focus on the here and now!
Finnish gaming industry
To say gaming is at the heart of Finnish culture isn't wrong. The rest of the world might dream about Lapland and Santa's elves, yet Finland is more than a country centred on Christmas. For instance, Rovio Entertainment, the developers behind the billion-dollar Angry Birds game, is from Helsinki. That's not all. Remedy Entertainment created the Max Payne franchise, and it is also a Finnish company. Supercell developed Clash of Clans – guess where they are from? - and Resogun and Dead Nation have put Finland's capital on the map in many respects.
The online gambling industry is another bow in the cap of gamers, according to the IB Times, with the growth rate at 10% per annum since 2016, highlighted by the offers on uudet nettikasinot – the newest online casinos in Finland.
As these stats point out, gaming is the blood of Finnish citizens and residents, which is why the outcome of the study is no surprise. To Finns, it was never in doubt!
Maybe other countries will catch up to us one day, but until that day arrives, let's never forget that we're the best in Scandinavia (even if it is only gaming!).