Regional Game Industry Profile Denmark & Central Denmark Region

The Danish Game Industry still is a rather small industry and most of its companies are concentrated around the Greater Copenhagen area. It comprises 162 companies* which is a comparatively high number relative to Denmark’s population size. With 124 companies per million inhabitants, it has the highest density of companies in the BSR with respect to denizens. Yet, with only around 804 employees working in the industry, this rank is not reached with regard to workforce. The majority of Danish Game companies are very small. The average company size is 5 people, with only few companies employing more than 10 people. Only one global player (top 100) is located in the country. The average revenue per firm is around one million Euro which is one of the lowest counts in the BSR. However, Denmark is one of the few regions with three incubators purely dedicated to games.

Additional information

The Region of Norddjurs is located close to Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark, and is a part of the “Eastern Jutland million city”, where 12 municipalities have created the Business Region Aarhus in order to support business development and growth.

Norddjurs is located within Central Denmark Region, one of the total of 5 regions in Denmark. This means that business development consists of both a national, regional and local level, as well as within municipal co-operations like Business Region Aarhus. The Danish government is working towards simplifying the system within a few years, which could lead to change on how the support for business development is done.

Gaming is usually located within the creative business development, often combined with the movie industry. It has not traditionally been part of the ICT or media businesses. Norddjurs is the central hub for game developer education and start-ups in Denmark.

Based on the latest studies for the Danish game sector (published January 2018), Denmark had 159 game companies in 2018, with a combined 955 jobs and a turnover total of est. 1.0 bn DKK.
Exports accounts for 650 m DKK, making gaming a highly globalised business area, compared with sectors like Movies, TV and Commercials.

Denmark does not have any major game companies, although a few companies like Kiloo in Aarhus has an estimated 90 employees and an estimated turnover of 123 m DKK, making it a big player in the local Danish gaming industry ecosystem. The gaming companies of Denmark has been split up into three groups, depending on their size:

• Businesses with a turnover below 1 m DKK yearly – 105
• Businesses with a turnover between 1-7.5 m DKK yearly – 42
• Businesses with a turnover above 7.5 m DKK yearly – 15

Outside the few larger companies, a lot of the game companies in Denmark and thereby Norddjurs are small, independent start-ups with few employees. For Norddjurs, a portion of the game developers are combining gaming studies with creating their businesses.

This means that Denmark, with Norddjurs as the central hub, is bustling with small, innovative game developers, where the supporting business structures promote scaling-up, globalisation and financing opportunities in order to create a stronger gaming sector in Denmark.

With Game Hub Denmark in Norddjurs, game start-ups receive training and education in business development, support for cooperation around the globe, as well as help finding the financial support needed to grow.

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Status: 2020

• Danish Producers’ Association
• Interactive Denmark (2017): The Interactive Denmark in figures 2015