Welcome to our year-end flashback of the seventeenth and eighteenth editions of Nordic Game, Europe’s leading games conference and the only event in the world with a dedicated focus on the entire Nordic industry.

Following a very successful digital debut in May, Nordic Game returned online with NG20+ in November, delivering twice the Nordic Game experience in 2020.

Update: The Nordic Game Discovery Contest’s fourth season concluded with a nail-biter at its final, high-stakes pitch competition, live streamed from NG20+ in Malmö, Sweden.

After an extended season that began 19 months ago, three games – A Tale of Paper from Open House Games (Spain), Ad Infinitum from Hekate (Germany) and You Suck at Parking from Happy Volcano (Belgium) – made it to the NGDC Season IV Final Three and the intense four-round battle on Friday, 27 November for the coveted NGDC Game of the Year award.

With the contest tied between two of the finalists until the very end, it was Belgian studio Happy Volcano that made the most of their “last chance” round to sway the NGDC Grand Final expert judges – Miikka Luotio from Xsolla, Ed Smith from AWS Game Tech and Vaiva Vitkute representing Audra McIver from Plan of Attack – and ultimately clinch the Season IV win.

Warmest congratulations to the entire team at Happy Volcano, who will now receive a host of prizes from NGDC Season IV sponsors Xsolla, Versus Evil, AWS Game Tech, DDM, Plan of Attack, Matchmade, Karmafy and Big Ideas Machine, and it will be very exciting to follow the future of You Suck at Parking, the NGDC Season IV Game of the Year.

Update: First part of the Nordic Game Discovery Contest (NGDC) Season IV Grand Finals concluded at NG20+ on Wednesday, 25 November, with semi-final jury selection of the final three teams and their games. The very talented NGDC Season IV Final Three are:

Happy Volcano (Belgium) presenting You Suck at Parking
Hekate (Germany) presenting Ad Infinitum
Open House Games (Spain) presenting A Tale of Paper

A big congrats to this season’s NGDC Final Three and see you live at the NGDC Season IV Grand Final on Friday!

NGDC Season IV Grand Finals
The fourth season semi-finals and grand final of the Nordic Game Discovery Contest (NGDC) took place during NG20+ on 25-27 November.

The NGDC Season IV Grand Finals mark the conclusion of the NGDC’s latest season, with talented game developers competing in pitching contests at NGDC partner events all over the world since last June.

This November at NG20+, the season’s 16 finalists battled for the prestigious NGDC Game of the Year title as well as votes for the People’s Choice Award. See the complete list of NGDC Season IV finalists right here.

Vote for the People’s Choice Award
Which NGDC finalist game and studio do you think deserved to be discovered most? Votes were cast for favored NGDC finalists on the Nordic Game Discord channel during NG20+, with the team garnering the most votes winning the coveted NGDC Season IV People’s Choice Award.

Update: The Nordic Game Discovery Contest’s fourth season People’s Choice Award, chosen from thousands of votes on the Nordic Game Discord channel by participants at NG20+, is Warshmallows from Yourun Ltd (Malta). Congrats to the team on their decisive win and the NGDC Season IV People’s Choice Award title 🙂

NGDC Season IV Grand Finals live
Revisit the NGDC Season IV Grand Finals on the NG20+ live stream! The season’s semi-finals aired on Tuesday, 25 November at 18:00 CET, followed by the NGDC Season IV Grand Final featuring the top three finalists in live pitch competition on Friday, 27 November at 12:15 CET.

NGDC Season IV finalist showcase
Get to know each of the fourth NGDC season’s 16 finalists and watch their pitch videos, created especially for the NGDC Grand Finals at NG20+ this November.
 
Bedtime Digital (Denmark) presenting Figment: Creed Valley, qualifying NGDC Wild Card selection

 
Omnisir Team (Italy) presenting Marble Garden, qualified at GameRome (Rome)

 
Happy Volcano (Belgium) presenting You Suck at Parking!, qualified at Devcom Digital (Cologne)

 
Lukyantsev Company (Switzerland) presenting Wild Planet, qualifying selection from the NG20+ #SwissGames delegation

 
Yourun Ltd (Malta) presenting Warshmallows, qualified at PlayCon (Valetta)

 
Loeding (Norway) presenting Last Days of Snow (formerly SNOW), qualified at NM i Gameplay (Oslo)

 
Pink Array (Brazil) presenting Grashers, qualified at BIG Festival (Sao Paolo)

 
Unsigned Double Collective (South Africa) presenting Freja and the False Prophecy, qualified at Playtopia/Africa Games Week (Cape Town)

 
Team Chronos (Portugal) presenting Chronos, qualified at GameDev Camp (Lisbon)

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Open House Games (Spain) presenting A Tale of Paper, qualified at Guerrilla Games Festival (Madrid)

 
Team Jolly Roger (Finland) presenting Interplanetary 2, qualified at Polar Bear Pitching (Oulu)

 
DragonBear Studios (Australia) presenting InnChanted, qualified at Melbourne Games Week (Melbourne)

 
FearLand Team (Romania) presenting FearLand, qualified at DevPlay (Bucharest)

 
Ugly Duckling Games (Denmark) presenting DramaQueen, qualified at Growing Games (Aarhus)

 
Blue Rose Games (Bulgaria) presenting Azure Dawn, qualified at DevPlay Digital (Bucharest)

 
Hekate (Germany) presenting Ad Infinitum, qualified at GameOn (Vilnius)

 
Congratulations to all the finalists and welcome to the NGDC Season IV Grand Finals!

NGDC Season IV is sponsored by Xsolla, Versus Evil, AWS Game Tech, Microsoft, WhisperGames, Plan of Attack, Matchmade, Nordic Game Ventures, Karmafy, DDM and 80 Level.

Interested in becoming an NGDC partner or sponsor? Contact Nordic Game BD director Teddy Florea here to learn about great opportunities now available with the fifth season tour, which kicks-off during Africa Games Week in Cape Town on 3-4 December.

About the Nordic Game Discovery Contest
Building on fourteen years of organising successful games industry activities, including the annual Nordic Game conference, regional funding programs, overseas networking events and other developer support initiatives, Nordic Game launched the Nordic Game Discovery Contest (NGDC) in 2016 – an exciting, competitive challenge where selected game projects are showcased live in pitch competitions at partner events across Europe and around the globe.

Learn more about all the NGDC Season IV qualifiers – and get ready for Season V – at discovery-contest.nordicgame.com.

About the Nordic Game conference
Nordic Game is the leading games conference in Europe, and 2020 marks its seventeenth and eighteenth editions. Gathering thousands of industry professionals in Malmö annually, Nordic Game is the one and only “home turf” meeting place for the highly successful game developers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

This year Nordic Game doubled up on their digital debut at NG20 in May with twice the knowledge, emotion and business at NG20+ this November.

Experience both Nordic Game events for one low price with a flashback pass right here!

Get all the latest Nordic Game, NGDC and Nordic games industry news, including updates about our conferences in 2021 at nordicgame.com.

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