Wille Miljas has spent most of his career in games marketing, from SEGA in Japan to Next Games in the US and now Rovio, where he recently moved from a central marketing role to focus entirely on Angry Birds 2 with the studio in Stockholm.

Ahead of his appearance on the "Region Focus: Examining the Nordic Games Industry" panel at PGC Nordics, we asked him what's changed for the region, what still holds and where Nordic studios need to rethink their approach.

Miljas describes this moment in time as a "transformative period for the games industry as a whole", with competition being as fierce as ever for player's attention. "Simply making a good game isn’t necessarily enough anymore. You need strong products, but you also need innovation in how you find audiences and build businesses around those products."

The Nordics serves as an interesting case study in games longevity, in his view, due to the unique combination of "senior talent, a very strong education system, and a long history of building games for global audiences."

When asked what worked five to 10 years ago, Miljas immediately points to platform featuring on mobile.

"Today, I think you have to assume that you need to create your own demand rather than waiting for the platform to deliver it."

The marketing mix today means that influencers and creators now play a much bigger role in discovery, for new launches and live games alike.

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