setting up game studio in helsinki from scratch
TRANSCRIPT
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Rovio © 2016 Confidential. All rights reserved.
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Rovio © 2016 Confidential. All rights reserved.
Setting up a game studio in Finland
Cyril BarrowVP operations - Rovio
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FromHardware...
WhoisCyrilBarrow?
to...FreetoPlay....
20years,leadingpeople,productsandprocesses.
Helsinki
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Jan2014
March2014
Feb2015
May2014
Companyestablished
1stemployee• GM
Fullteamhired(Producer&ADhired)
Teamof17:• 1GM• 3Design• 6Engineers• 2Admin• 3art• Producer• AD
Movedintotheofficewith3employees:• GM• Eng• Techofficemanager
Helsinki
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Rovio © 2016 Confidential. All rights reserved.
The office
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Rovio © 2016 Confidential. All rights reserved.
- Office for 25 people: 7 500€ / Month
- Hot seat in Helsinki: 500 € / pers / Month
- Office contract negotiations was hard and slow.
- We got an amazing office.
- Proper internet set up was slow. We ran on 4G for 2 months
- Lots of second hand office shops around.
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Rovio © 2016 Confidential. All rights reserved.
The recruitment
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Rovio © 2016 Confidential. All rights reserved.
Relocations needed:- Russian living in Czech Republic- Ukraine- Canada- Turkey
Other nationalities in the team:- China- UK- France- Bulgaria- India
- Efficient and fast visa application- Game industry head hunter -> low yield (high competition)- Hires came from Network, LinkedIn scooting and ads.- Artists were the ardest to find - Attrition: 4 people (20%) during year 1- Applicants expect to be paid for doing recruitment tests (growing trend)
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Rovio © 2016 Confidential. All rights reserved.
Expected perks in finland:
- Free mobile phone- Phone bill paid by company- Lunch vouchers- Sport vouchers- Home internet- Free drinks/snacks at the office- Game room- Cool office- 9-17 office hours- stock options- Bonus
- Growing trend: Recreational creative freedom
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Rovio © 2016 Confidential. All rights reserved.
The services
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Rovio © 2016 Confidential. All rights reserved.
- Law firm
- Auditor
- Accounting
- Pay roll + taxes
- Office cleaning
Employment tax:
24% on estimated yearly salaries.
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Rovio © 2016 Confidential. All rights reserved.
The game(s)
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Rovio © 2016 Confidential. All rights reserved.
- There was a very high hope put on the Helsinki studio
- The team had to gain the trust of HQ + project manager
- The team had to discover (guess) and adapt to the company’s production frame
Recommendations:
- set expectations early
- acknowledge roles and responsibilities
- schedule milestones and reviews
- give freedom between milestones
- don’t assume all game studios work the same way
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What did we learn?
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Rovio © 2016 Confidential. All rights reserved.
Fully staffed run rate (17 people) : 100k€/Month1st year cost: 850k€
Don’t assume your GM will also be theproduct ownerproducerHR manager
Get a native office assistant and office tech.
Tekes money not that easily available.R&D loanMarketing grantYoung innovative company support
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What went well
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- Office setup
- Law firm, accounting, Payroll set up
- Advertising jobs is efficient (networking is better)
- We were integrated to the game community quickly (IGDA)
- Our office assistant was helping the families to settle in Finland
- We opened our office to the families
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What was difficult
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Rovio © 2016 Confidential. All rights reserved.
- Office contract negotiations
- Taylor made financial reporting
- Internet set up
- Find artists, art director and free to play specialist.
- Understand the company’s culture
- Understand the company’s production framework
- Align roles and responsibilities
- Stand the pressure of expectations
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Thank you.