The summer was magic – and now the world is open for new ventures
Summer in Finland 2021 was absolutely magic, with wonderful weather, sunshine, and happiness. Still, we have been a bit disappointed not to join a trip to San Fransico to visit the world’s famous Game Development Conference (GDC), but there is another possibility, and it will be in March 2022. The world is open up again and will show us new opportunities; for our teams, this is an important time, as the area of being completely ONLINE is coming to an end. Catching deals, such as publishing deals or investor deals, have been challenging during the pandemic. Keeping teams motivated and inspired to continue working on their projects has been difficult but not impossible. Communication needed to be improved dramatically and adapted to a complete digital area. These improvements have been beneficial; many might still focus on different things, which is why Baltic Explorers supports them in keeping business flowing.
Startups faced difficulties during Covid-19.
Startups play a key role in the economy, as growing and involving companies are significant to any economic growth. Unfortunately, results tell that startups have faced significant challenges, not only the fight for survival and a slow growth rate. It was also hindering them in their creativity and the creation of new job possibilities. Nevertheless, some innovative startups have reacted fast and flexibly by helping many countries shift towards full digitalization. (Source: VOXEU.org)
During the pandemic, fewer startups were created, challenging survival and, as mentioned, limitation in growth. At a time marked by significant economic uncertainty and revenues affected by containment measures, and a significant drop in demand, start-ups become even more financially fragile. They need support for their short-term liquidity needs, critical for their survival. The challenge of catching deals on bigger markets such as the US market or the Asian market is the most difficult task to tackle.
The gaming industry instead did not face any significant challenges, a slight decrease in growth in 2021. This does not mean that the gaming industry is a place where you are safe while creating your gaming venture. The industry is the most competitive and challenging place to be ever; the market gets over-flowed by daily launched games, which comes to the question, how do smaller Indie companies survive.
It is possible, and there are many successful indie developers on the market; the answer to that and the most important factors are to have a solid business model and a decent marketing strategy ready.
What will happen at Baltic Explorers in autumn 2021
As the borders for traveling are getting open, we are more than happy to meet with all our project partners; the first occasion for this will be at the GAME WAVE Festival event in Jurmala/Latvia. The Game Wave Festival is organized by our project partner, the Latvian Technological Center, for the first time, and it will be a continuation for the upcoming years to come.
The BE BIG program itself will continue. A new BATCH of teams will join us; the accelerator program will continue to be online, but we definitely will attend important game conferences and conventions shortly, onsite. Autumn will be an exciting time, with new mentoring program solutions and the possibility to attend live events, for our gaming teams an essential possibility to represent their games and their companies and catch those important deals.
The new Baltic Explorers Roadmap will be as follows: 
We will participate in certain events during autumn, but we will mostly focus on the game business development to make our teams market fit. The direction we are heading is most definitely to join the biggest game development conference in San Fransico next March. Only those teams that have all their necessary components ready will be considered to join the Baltic Explorers venture.
What is needed to get the tickets to join the Baltic Explorers venture:
- The game should be ready and (partly) playable
- Have ready teasers and visuals of your game
- Know your audience
- Business and marketing strategy ready
- The business case in your game company should be well defined
- Pitch decks and one-pagers for publisher deals and investor deals need to be ready
- Pitch perfect – tell about your game but also know your business
- Do your research
- TEAM
- You should know to whom you will pitch your company. Be aware of what projects publishers or investors already have backed up.
- Be prepared
- Be ready to pitch at any time but still be aware of the right timing
Those are maybe just viewpoints that need to be ready, to join Baltic Explorers ventures. Most of our gaming teams already have all those essential questions covered, but still, have the great opportunity to polish their pitch decks and practice pitching to become perfect.
For more information please contact:
www.balticexplorers.eu
sabine.suorsa@xamk.fi