Next Games has increased the number of women and non-binary employees in four years from 24% to 30%, seven percentage points ahead of the Finnish game industry average. 32% of senior employees are women, up from 12% in the same timeframe.

As a studio focusing on globally-recognized, fan-favorite IP, Next Games understands that the best way to make games for a diverse audience is to build a diverse team, and to ensure that everyone has an equal and equitable chance at growth and career opportunities regardless of gender or other factors.

In 2020, we decided to take concrete steps to increase representation within our studio, so we set an ambitious goal to have no gender make up more than 49% of the company workforce by 2030, and we are excited to share that we have made clear progress towards achieving it. As of January 2024, women make up 29% of all employees, which is 7% more than the Finnish game industry average reported by Neogames, and 6.7% higher than the EU game industry average. Our share of non-binary employees is currently at 2%.

Our primary focus area for reaching this goal has been a company-wide emphasis on inclusive hiring. We began to ask ourselves difficult questions about unconscious bias, how we build interview panels, and if we are doing everything we can to fairly assess candidates of different backgrounds, and challenged our ways of working when it came to hiring and interviewing. One of the concrete measures we’ve taken since is ensuring that no hiring panel is composed of only people from the same background. This helps our team keep potential biases in check and also gives broader perspectives when evaluating a potential hire.

Belonging In Action
One of the ways we measure the impact of our efforts is through weekly, anonymous employee surveys. In our most recent survey, we asked our colleagues to rate the question “My team does a good job at fostering a diverse and inclusive environment” on a scale of 1-5, with 5 meaning they agree strongly. 92% of men and 90% of women who answered rated this question a 4 or higher, and no one rated it below a 3.*

Once people come through our doors, we want them to feel like they are respected, expected, and supported here. Over the last four years, we’ve established steering groups and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), and have had training on issues ranging from anti-racism to neurodiversity to LGBTQIA+-related topics.

We are proud of the progress that we have made towards our goals and of our teams for striving towards a safe and inclusive working environment for people of all backgrounds. If our goals sound like something you can get behind, check out our Careers page to find out how you can join our team.

Follow us on our social media channels to stay in the loop about our efforts in gender equality and diversity, inclusion, and belonging.

*Data for non-binary employees is unavailable due to anonymity thresholds