This is us
What makes Sweden Game Arena unique is that it gives you a chance to evolve in game development in different ways.
Sweden Game Arena offers individuals and companies an opportunity to develop through targeted community events as well as visualization and participation in the global games market. Sweden Game Arena is based in Skövde, and also has operations in Gothenburg.
In addition to having a close-knit community of professional game developers and aspiring game development students from Sweden’s biggest game development education programs, Sweden Game Arena frequently represents the Swedish games industry at international events like Game Developers Conference (GDC) and GamesCom.
Sweden Game Arena also organize Sweden Game Conference in Skövde every October for indie developers and students, in order to shine a spotlight on our community and to meet people from the industry and invited media.
What we do
What makes Sweden Game Arena unique is that it gives you a chance to evolve in game development in different ways – whether you want to start studying or researching computer games, start your own computer game company, establish an existing company in Skövde or start working at one of the companies within the Sweden Game Arena community.
Since 2014, Sweden Game Arena has been providing opportunities not found anywhere else in the world, and enabling individuals and companies to develop in a way that allows the Swedish computer games industry to thrive.
Academy
University of Skövde educates future talents of the gaming industry and offers study programs at Bachelor’s or Master’s level, as well as research opportunities
The Game Incubator
The Game Incubator program is an inhouse developed accelerated business program specifically designed for game developers
Establish
Establish your game studio in Skövde, and be a part of Sweden Game Arena's growing community
Members
Members of Sweden Game Arena consists of startups, studios and partners within game development
Career
Start your own game company or begin working in a studio within Sweden Game Arena's community
Meet the team
The team at Sweden Game Arena is made up of members with diverse backgrounds, experiences and skills. Learn more about the team below.
Jennifer Granath
Communicator at Sweden Game Arena
Jennifer is the newest member of Sweden Game Arena, and joined the team in the beginning of 2020. Computer games, and games in general, are a new and unexplored field for her, as she has a background in internal and external communication in public administration and retail. She likes hanging out with friends and family, and… well, eating. Jennifer used to ride motocross when she was younger, which may be the reason why one of her favorite computer games as a child was Motocross Madness.
Louise Hallberg
Business Development Officer, Talent Attraction at the Municipality of Skövde
Louise moved back to her hometown of Skövde in 2014, after living in Los Angeles for 15 years. In the U.S., she worked with convention logistics as Senior Manager, Client Services and Program Manager, which involved a lot of traveling. Because of that, she can find her way around most major cities in the U.S. Outside the office, Louise enjoys most activities involving friends and family – and dancing. She received her first game as a Christmas gift in 1983: Snoopy Nintendo Panorama. She played it so intensely the first night that she ended up feeling nauseous.
Magnus Ling
Project Manager at Sweden Game Arena
Magnus joined the project in 2015 and has more than 30 years of global experience with a focus on sales, marketing and communication. He also has extensive experience in the games industry; since 2003, he has been part owner, board member and Executive VP in SimBin Studios, and is a co-founder of RaceRoom. He enjoys the great outdoors with his two King Poodles and is also an active drummer in a hard rock cover band called Machine. As a teenager, he remembers playing Pong on console at home, which at the time was very unique as almost all gaming took place at arcades and cafés.
Per Backlund
Professor of Informatics at University of Skövde
Per is one of the members of the team who’s been involved in Sweden Game Arena the longest. He started his career in academia as a middle school teacher, but became interested in computer science when he was asked to develop the computer science program at the University of Skövde in 2004. In addition to his interest in computer games, he also enjoys exercising and all kinds of sports. One of Per’s earliest computer game memories involves a ping pong game and jealousy, when Per’s classmate got the game Pong in middle school.
Per Micael Nyberg
Senior Business Developer at Science Park Skövde
In addition to being a Senior Business Developer, Per Micael is also a designer. He has worked at many major studios such as Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio, Marvel and Dreamworks – just to name a few. Since his return from Japan and Australia to his hometown in the countryside, he enjoys being outdoors, crafting and spending time with his family. When he was a kid, his best friend had a Vic 20 on which they played a lot of games. Later, he got an Amiga 500, on which he started creating pixel art and then programming. Per Micael has been part of the demo scene ever since.
Tau Petersson
Community Overlord at Sweden Game Arena
Tau is one of the founders of Stunlock Studios, which is the biggest game studio in Skövde, and where she still works part time. She’s been a part of Sweden Game Arena since the beginning, but joined the project in 2018. She’s also a board member in the Swedish Games Industry. In her free time, she’s most likely hiking, baking, or doing a DIY project, which is probably why she as such an in-depth knowledge of IKEA’s product range. Games have always figured in Tau’s life, and as a kid she spent countless hours playing her favorite game, Bubble Bobble, on the Commodore 64.
Tobias Karlsson
PhD Student at University of Skövde
Tobias has a long career involving both computer games and academia, and has worked as a game artist, lecturer and program director at the University of Skövde. Making and playing games also happens to be one of his hobbies, along with playing music. Another of his talent’s is losing untold pairs of sunglasses during the summer, since he frequently forgets to take them off before jumping in the water. One of Tobias favorite games is Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. It’s been his favorite since, as a child, he spent a whole day beating the game together with his brother and dad, who was at home with a sports injury.