Connecting with the British video games industry
Swedish-British Games Connect 2023 is co-organised by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for the UK and Invest in Skåne, the official investment promotion agency for the Skåne region. It will be hosted at the chamber’s London location on the evening of March 30th, and along with the Swedish delegation, many stakeholders from the UK video game industry – such as publishers, investors, and game developers – will also be there.
The day before, March 29th, is the official start of this year’s London Games Festival – billed as “the world's biggest celebration of video games and interactive entertainment” – which the Swedish delegation will be attending as well.
Officially selected by the London Games Festival
For Undone Games, the trip will be especially pivotal. The company’s first release, LetterMe, was launched this week and has been chosen for the “international innovators” category of the London Games Festival’s Official Selection programme, which showcases just over 30 specific games throughout the week-and-a-half-long event. A player-versus-player mobile word game, LetterMe pits two users against one another in a challenge to create words in a 5x5 grid with letters they each take turns choosing. The game has been released in both Swedish and English (with the UK as one of its first markets).
“We just wanted to create this game because it’s fun,” explains Bostam. “And it has been a crazy, super-fun, and very busy time.”
Formed in June 2022, Undone Games is unique in that its founders (which includes Bostam) had no prior experience in game development. Veterans of the branding and communication industry, they were driven by what Bostam describes as a shared love of word games and the discovery that women, age 40+, are largely responsible for growth in mobile gaming but seem to be the demographic that developers give the least amount of focus.
Malmö's friendly games community sparks further growth
Bostam and her co-founders were already based in Malmö, so it was quite easy to find members of the game development sector with whom they could discuss their idea and explore how to produce it.
“I’m so impressed by the community in Malmö,” says Bostam. “Everyone has been so helpful and encouraging. They really took the time to sit down and talk with me for hours about an idea or ways of testing it.”
According to Olof Kindblad, Game Developer and Studio Manager at Apog Labs, which along with being a fellow company in the delegation, is also based in Malmö, it’s a common experience of those in the city’s game development scene.
It was the Malmö game development community that eventually lead Undone Games to the extraordinary opportunity to be part of the delegation to London. As Bostam explains, building international connections with publishers, investors, and other developers is essential for the success of a video game company, especially if it wants to release updates for its games or create new ones.
“We want to keep developing,” she says. “We have a long backlog of cool stuff we want to do.”
Interested in joining southern Sweden’s vibrant video game industry?
Visit the Skåne booth at W.A.S.D Careers, part of the London Games Festival’s W.A.S.D. expo! You can talk to representatives of the game development communities of Skåne and Värmland, including those from non-profit groups supporting regional industry development like Game Habitat and The Great Journey.
