This year, GDC 2025 in San Francisco wasn’t just another stop on the global game industry calendar — it was a major milestone for Estonia. For the first time ever, Estonia took the stage with its own national booth at the GDC Expo, officially marking our plans to expand gamedev sector in the country.
Expo Hall Debut – Booth C1757
We kicked things off in the Expo Hall at Booth C1757, where we had our own Meet to Match meeting point. Thanks to support from EIS (Estonian Business and Innovation Agency), we had a strong, diverse delegation showing what Estonia is all about — from VR and game audio to VFX, analytics, and several indies.
Here’s who joined us in the booth:
AVP Stuudio – High-quality audio for games and media
Maru VR – Creators of Bootstrap Island, Estonian Game of the Year
Unlimited Minds – A brand new VFX studio
Rhea Games – Focused on deep, story-driven games with rich worlds
Frozen Lake Studios – Art production for games & entertainment
Argentum Studio – Full-cycle animation for trailers and cinematics
Placeholder Gameworks – Known for Death and Taxes and Broken Alliance
Sign Narva VR – VR storytelling at the intersection of tech and culture
Video Game Insights – Analytics & market research for the games industry
Team Instant Defeat – New indie studio with a very promising prototype
Also joined us at GDC:
CM Games – Veteran studio behind the Into the Radius VR series
Mars Games – Innovators in fair monetization and tournament play
Invokation Games – Next-gen skill rating system for competitive play
Nerd Monkeys – Story-driven indies with a playful twist
Mobidictum – Leading industry media platform connecting devs, publishers, and investors
Tier Music – Leading Estonian music production company
Additionally in our booth we had representatives from GameDev Estonia, Invest Estonia and Enterprise Estonia.
Nordic Breakfast: A Morning to Remember
On March 18, Estonia also co-hosted the legendary Nordic Breakfast at the stylish 111 Minna Gallery — and it was a full house. The event was a hot spot for devs, publishers, investors, and ecosystem leaders from across the Nordic-Baltic region.
This year’s breakfast was extra special for Estonia:
- It was opened by Heidy Purga, Minister of Culture of Estonia, who even celebrated her birthday with us (🎂 happy birthday, Heidy!).
- It was the first time the event was sponsored by Invest Estonia — another huge step in building global recognition.
Minister Purga emphasized the importance of smart investment in this sector to position Estonia as a hub for digital creativity and interactive culture — a future-forward vision we fully support.
The breakfast also featured a rapid-fire game showcase, with three exciting titles — one each from Estonia, Finland, and Sweden — pitched live in front of an international audience. Representing Estonia was Bootstrap Island by Maru VR, a survival action-adventure built for VR, and winner of Estonian Game of the Year.
And with the global industry navigating funding slowdowns, market saturation, and changing player behavior, a high-level roundtable (Siim Erik Akermann, Suvi Latva, Per Strömbäck, Karl Kontus) tackled the big question: How can we stay competitive — and grow — in challenging times? The main answer was Stronger cross-border collaboration, smarter partnerships, and tapping into regional strengths to build long-term resilience. Estonia is ready to be part of that solution.
Estonia Is in the Game
For a country like Estonia — small in size but big in ambition — being present at GDC is more than just a cool photo op or a line in a report. It’s a strategic move. The global games industry is massive, fast-moving, and incredibly competitive. Studios are constantly fighting for attention from publishers, investors, platform holders, and the press. And for smaller countries like Estonia, which don’t yet have household-name studios or a huge international footprint, visibility is everything.
💬 GDC is where the global games industry comes to do business — from signing publishing deals to meeting co-development partners and scouting talent. It’s where indie studios can get noticed, where ecosystems can promote their unique strengths, and where connections are forged that can lead to years of collaboration.
Huge thanks to all our partners — especially Invest Estonia, EIS, Neogames Finland, and Dataspelsbranschen — for helping make this happen.
