Danish Game Industry Futures: Anticipations of a “New Heyday”

If politicians and game industry leaders are to be trusted, the Danish game industry is approaching a “new heyday” (Games Denmark 2024). The goal of this paper is to look closer into claims and hopes, occasional and sometimes hidden worries, about the future of Danish games. The material used consists of 1) reports, articles, and talks that address the future of the Danish games industry published in 2022-2024, and 2) analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews with Danish game developers working in small companies and having financial responsibilities of game development. Contrasting the strategically voiced ‘official' hopes and worries with circumstantial accounts of individual game workers, the paper reveals discrepancies between macro level ambitions on behalf of an industry and micro level anticipations and strategies for adopting game worker livelihood. The findings also highlight unique social contingencies underlying Danish game development culture and industrialization.