year in review
- The Goose
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
As the year comes to an end, we look back at an eventful and inspiring year for The Great Journey filled with events, collaborations, investments, and outstanding achievements by our studios and community.
Below are some of the highlights we’ve accomplished together.
Värmland's first Game Craft Festival arranged in DEJE
On April 12, the Spelslöjdsfestival (Game Craft Festival) was held at Deje Kraftstation, the first event of its kind in Värmland.
The festival was led by project manager Moa Johansson, bringing together game culture and craftsmanship in a new and creative format.
– This is needed to elevate game culture and create a social space where people can meet and connect,” says Moa Johansson.
Local TV segment: https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/varmland/spel-och-hantverk-i-skon-forening-i-deje
Sweden Needs a National Games Strategy - The Great Journey Takes the Lead
The Great Journey published a policy report outlining proposals for a future national strategy for the Swedish games industry.
The report is aimed at everyone working in or alongside the games ecosystem.
📄 Download the report here:
A New National Initiative for Equal Support to Game Startups
Five Swedish game clusters; The Great Journey, Sweden Game Arena, Game Habitat, Arctic Game and Gameport are joining forces to create a shared digital incubation process.
The initiative is called SCORE – Sustainable Collaboration for inter-Regional Excellence and aims to ensure equal access to tailored support for game entrepreneurs across Sweden, regardless of geography.
The project is co-funded by Tillväxtverket and has a total budget of SEK 13.4 million.
– This project is a crucial step toward shaping a national strategy for the games industry — something Sweden currently lacks, says Patrick Standfast, co-founder of The Great Journey.
May
Nordic Game Conference 2025
May 20th–23rd, we attended Nordic Game Conference in Malmö together with following startup studios:
NetherMoon Game Studio
Krufs Productions
Ancient Well Entertainment
Ricpau Studios
Four intense days full of meetings, inspiration, and valuable connections for the future.
June
The Great Summer Pitch Breaks Attendance Record!
On June 3, The Great Summer Pitch returned to Karlstad for the sixth time and set a new record.
Over 200 attendees
60 participating companies
13 pitches - Teams from all over Sweden and Poland
15 playable demos and prototypes
This became the largest event we have ever organized. A huge thank you to everyone involved - and congratulations to the winners!
Pitch Winners The Great Summer Pitch 2025
🥇 Bonsai ’98 — Jakob Ferenius, Noodleloop
🥈 A Courting of Curses — Sara Persson, Red Rose Interactive
🥉 Pawsta — Harry Heath, Cold Sector
🎮 Best Demo
🥇 Bad Slime — Viktor Ulhagen, Tuxedo Gato
📺 Watch the event recap:
August
Production Intern from Futuregames Warsaw
In August, we welcomed Håvard Wullum from Futuregames Warsaw as a production intern at The Great Journey.
Throughout autumn and winter, he supported our studios with production and project management related tasks and organized the community event The Great Gathering (see more info below)
New Game Education Programs in Kristinehamn and Karlstad
A new game programming program launched in Kristinehamn, providing both technical excellence and creative tools for a career in games.
In collaboration with The Great Journey, students also receive support in building sustainable indie game studios.
ℹ️ More info: https://www.regionvarmland.se/gameprogrammeren
Karlstad University also launched a new course:
Game Development from a Producer’s Perspective
September
Noodleloop Nominated for Swedish Game Awards 2025
The studio Noodleloop and their game Bonsai ’98 were nominated in two categories at Swedish Game Awards 2025.
No win this time - but huge congratulations to Jakob, Moa, Mukund, and Martin on the well-deserved nominations!
The Futuregames team that won The Great Summer Pitch also completed their internship with us in Karlstad, focusing on business development and building their indie studio.
Bonsai ’98 will be finalized in Karlstad during 2026.
New Seed Funding for Local Game Studios
Great news for indie developers in Värmland; together with our new accelerator program, we launched a seed funding initiative for game studios.
Led by The Great Journey in collaboration with local investors, the initiative supports both newly founded studios and established companies looking to grow.
Seed funding is combined with Business development and coaching through The Great Catapult accelerator as well as access to additional investors and publishers.
October
First Investment from the new Seed Fund
The first investment was made in Krufs Productions AB (Forshaga), enabling new hires and completion of the studio’s first PC title Heavy Metal Death Can.
This marks the first-ever seed investment in a game studio in Värmland.
“The ability to finance the early stage of a studio is invaluable,”
says Tobias Karlsson, Krufs Productions.
Sweden Game Conference
Patrick participated in a panel discussion with Swedish game clusters, moderated by Gabriella Kalteneckar.
Startup studios Perfect Potion and Noodleloop showcased Bad Slime and Bonsai ’98 in the Indiecator area.
November
Publisher Game Jam
Instead of building games, teams had three hours to brainstorm, shape, and pitch a game concept to a specific publisher of their choice. No code. No engines. Just creativity, teamwork and pizza.
The goal? To give developers a fast, low-stakes way to practice pitching and explore new ideas. And wow, the energy in the room was incredible.
GUSTAF FRÖDING Cultural Scholarship Awarded to Game Developer
Joel Fjällsby, game developer and CEO of NetherMoon Game Studio, was awarded Karlstad Municipality’s Cultural Scholarship in memory of Gustaf Fröding.
For the first time ever, the scholarship was awarded to a game developer. Along with the honor, Joel received SEK 50,000. Congratulations!
Talent Connect – Matchmaking Event for Game Developers
Together with Futuregames, Karlstad University, Dragon Game Education, and Molkom Folk High School, we hosted the matchmaking event Talent Connect on November 19.
Over 100 participants filled Skeppet (Inre hamn) in Karlstad. Thank you to everyone who contributed!
December
The Great Gathering
On December 6th, we hosted the event The Great Gathering with following inspiring speakers from Warsaw, Skövde, and Karlstad:
Maria Glowacka — CD PROJEKT RED
Lisa Kolfjord — Iron Gate
Robin Eyre — Iron Gate
Viktor Ulhagen — Perfect Potion Games
Honest stories and practical lessons were shared with the audience.
A New Corporate Structure for The Great Journey
The Great Journey now (since Dec 1st) operates as an independent company under The Great Journey Värmland AB, alongside the non-profit The Great Journey Värmland Ideell Förening.
Same amazing team, funders, and partners, and we’re still based at Karlstad Innovation Park.
New Game Studios in Värmland 2025
Perfect Potion AB
Stoff Games AB
QuadArk AB
Smorgås Interactive AB
Krufs AB
Noodleloop AB
Game releases this year
Honeymancer (PC)
Vault of Power (PC)
Find or Be Found (PC)
Musikhjälpen in Karlstad
The Studio QuadArk developed a Fortnite game in support of Musikhjälpen, with all revenue from December 1–7 donated to the fundraiser.
The game was playable live at Stora Torget on December 3, where the kids could also try out coding with Kodcentrum. The Great Journey also contributed with a donation box for the fundraiser.
Fireside Chat with the Creator of Core Keeper
On December 12, we welcomed Fredrik Präntare to Karlstad and the Embracer Games Archive for a fireside chat about Pugstorm’s journey with Core Keeper (over 4.5 million copies sold).
The conversation covered both past and future and ended with an exploration of the archive’s vast retro game collection.
New National Game Development Research Center
A Game Development Research Center is being established to strengthen the bridge between the Swedish games industry and academia.
Karlstad University is one of four participating universities. Read more here: https://www.kau.se/hhk/nyheter/karlstads-universitet-deltar-i-etableringen-av-ett-nationellt-forskningscentrum
Thank You for This Year ❤️
We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all our funders, partners, and game developers in the community for an incredible year.
Your commitment, trust, and passion made all of this possible. We look forward to an even more exciting year ahead. Together, we are building the future of the games industry in Värmland.
Happy New Year, see you in 2026!
— The Great Journey Team
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