What is a video game cluster doing at a book festival? 🤔

Today you can find The Great Journey together with Insanto Studios, Signe Studios and Forgebyte Studios at the local book festival, Värmlandsbokfestival.

Why are we here?

Värmland is known for its rich tradition of telling stories in different mediums.

📖 We have Selma Lagerlöf with her “The Wonderful Adventures of Nils” and Inger & Lasse Sandberg’s Lilla spöket Laban (The Little Ghost Godfray), both beloved stories and storytellers worldwide.

🖌️ We have Lars Lerin, one of the Nordics foremost watercolor painters, with his stunning depictions of the Swedish landscapes.

🎵 We have Sven Ingvars, the popular dansband recently elected to the Swedish Music Hall of Fame and so famous they were the opening act for The Beatles.

And much, much more.

Värmland has a rich cultural heritage and now games are part of that.

Since 2020, 15 studios have been setting up shop in Värmland and we even have the HQ of the Embracer Group, the biggest gaming holding company in Europe, in the middle of the city of Karlstad.

The games industry is now labeled Sweden’s new primary industry, with a turnover matching the Swedish export of wood products or that of iron ore. The difference is we don’t harvest raw materials, instead creativity is the core, just like writing, music and painting.

The games industry in Värmland is growing, and so does the cultural heritage we stem from. Games just like earlier technologies such as book printing, film, recorded music, etc - are all part of our culture.

We feel it’s important to take part in the local book festival. We collaborate with the music industry to further the connection between music and games. That’s why we invited narrative designers, game writers and games professionals to a Masterclass in Narrative Game Design together with Västanå Teater.

Because in the end, we are all storytellers.