November 21 was another high point for Finnish app industry. FDG Entertainment's "Oceanhorn" reigned as #1 iPad download in America and Rovio's "Angry Birds Star Wars 2" held onto #5 slot. Supercell's two games were lodged as #2 and #3 grossing US iPad apps. This meant that three Finnish companies held more Top 5 positions in these two iPad charts than all US vendors combined. In the past year, ten Finnish apps have hit Top 5 position on US iPhone charts, including rather exotic companies like Frogmind, Mountain Sheep and Fingersoft. Perhaps even more intriguingly, three Finnish vendors managed to hit #1 position on Japanese iPhone chart in 2013; a feat no other country has matched.
Why are Finnish app vendors so dazzling? This is a question I asked ten Japanese, Chinese and American industry experts at Slush 2013, a major start-up event held in Helsinki a week ago. Interestingly, all responses clustered around five arguments.
1) Creating a striking look. Many Finnish apps have a very distinctive vibe in both graphics and sound design. The goal is not necessarily to create something entirely original - the intent can be to evoke some legendary gaming milestone. "Oceanhorn" gets as close to replicating the "Wind Waker" experience as it dares. "Badland", which became the number one app globally in June 2013, echoes certain Japanese portable game classics in creating hyperdetailed, surrealistic environments that look like sumptuous oil paintings. "Hill Climb Racing" chose a completely opposite tack, with a deliberately crude, naive look wrapped around a sophisticated gravity game. We have all grown so used to Angry Birds we no longer really see them - but back in 2009, they were unusually expressive and personable characters for a mobile franchise.
2) Tight focus on
3) Relentless testing regime. Finnish app vendors tend to hone their apps for months or even a year in test markets like New Zealand or Canada. They adjust core loops and tinker with graphics until certain key metrics are met - such as 40% second day retention or 20 cents of average revenue per active daily user. Many Japanese powerhouse app vendors from GungHo to Colopl suffer from not possessing a systematic testing regime that would help the companies polish their properties for export markets in Asia and America.
4) Creative pricing strategies. Everyone now says that only free-to-play works in the app market. But some Finnish companies are sharply contrarian. Frogmind priced its "Badland" at $4 specifically to lend it console quality aura and avoid marring the immersion by tacky in-game purchase hooks. FDG Entertainment went even further and priced "Oceanhorn" at seemingly scary $9 level to achieve the same goal. The strategy worked in both cases, boosting "Badland" to Top 10 charts not only in the Western countries, but also in the legendarily difficult Japanese market. "Oceanhorn" remains the Number One iPad paid app in America today despite its premium price tag. Even though the industry is moving strongly towards the free-to-play model, there is always room for some premium games - and they actually look intriguing when they stand out from the freemium crowd.
4) Robust upgrade and expansion planning. Rovio pioneered the rapid and extensive upgrade strategy in 2010 by rolling out new levels at a furious clip for its original Angry Birds title in the year 2010. More recently, Supercell has managed to turn "Clash of Clans" and "Hay Day" into eye-poppingly perennial revenue machines by a carefully designed expansion plans. Supercell's duo of games is generating more revenue in November 2013 than in November 2012, when the titles were fresh and new. Many US app vendors are astonishingly slow and/or crude with their expansion work. Electronic Arts is stumbling badly with its core franchise of "Plants Vs. Zombies", because the new sequel did not receive early and strong expansion packs. Zynga literally killed its "Draw Something" cash cow by not plotting out a robust upgrade path for the app.
Of course, many of these characteristics are not unique to Finnish vendors - they are evident in other Nordic countries. Denmark's Kiloo is famous for its meticulous long-term maintenance of its "
As a massive wave of new new app start-ups is now building in Finland, the year 2014 is shaping up to be a decisive year for the country. Grand Cru is polishing "Supernauts" in the afterglow of its $13 M recent funding round. Gajatri Studios is testing "Yoga Retreat" in Canada and Netherlands. Ambitious new Second World War spy simulations and astonishingly detailed rally games are moving close to 2014 debuts. Can Finland launch a second global expansion of successful franchises? Are the other Nordic countries catching up? To some extent, the US iOS charts are already a battleground where Finnish, Swedish, Danish and Icelandic apps fight for turf.
On November 20, seven apps in the American iPhone Top 10 charts were created by companies that were founded in Nordic countries.
