Which online games are the most popular among Finns?

Online gambling is a very popular pastime these days. Many people will remember a time when it didn't really exist. Before the millennium, internet connections were so poor that online gaming couldn't be much fun. The internet could go down at any time, and connection speeds were not fast enough to handle dozens or even hundreds of players playing games at the same time. The problems were particularly acute when players were from all over the world.

Today, however, the internet in Finland and around the world works smoothly and without problems. As a result, online gaming has become a very big phenomenon. It allows players from completely different cultures around the globe to have fun and compete together in a safe and stable environment. In this article, we list some of the biggest online gaming favourites in Finland today!

1. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

The Counter-Strike series of games have always been extremely popular online. The original Counter-Strike was released as a multiplayer spin-off of Valve Corporation's massively popular first-person shooter (FPS) Half-Life. Half-Life, released for PC back in 1998, is considered one of the best and most popular games in the world, and has since been adapted for Sega's Dreamcast and Playstation 2, among others.

Counter-Strike began its life as a modification of Half-Life in 2000. Its sequel, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), was released in 2012 and has been actively played online ever since.

A big reason for the huge popularity of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is its simplicity and user-friendliness. Players are divided into teams, terrorists and anti-terrorists, with the goal of completing missions and collectively eliminating an opposing team. The last team standing wins.

2. Dota 2

The history of Dota 2 is also very interesting. Like Counter-Strike, the first Dota started as a multiplayer mode for another popular video game. This video game was Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Today, gamers almost exclusively refer to Dota, but the full name of the game is Defense of the Ancients, which was released in 2003.

Dota is what is known as a MOBA, or multiplayer online battle arena. In games of this genre, two teams compete against each other on a large battlefield, each with a single character with a variety of interesting abilities. For example, some players may control sword-wielding warriors, while others may have archers or wizards at their disposal.

In 2009, Valve Corporation, the company behind Counter-Strike, acquired the Dota brand for further development. The result would be Dota 2, released in 2013, which made the series even more popular. Dota 2 is available for PCs, and its popularity is also based on exciting team-based matches in which each player has a value and importance.

3. Book of Dead and other casino games

Next up on our list is something a little different. After all, it would seem wrong to leave out the gambling games that Finns love from a list of the most popular games and game formats of the moment.

Casino games have also become hugely popular in Finland, and a big reason for this is, of course, Veikkaus, a Finnish company that has saturated the lobbies of our markets, petrol stations, pubs and health centres with its entertaining games. In turn, this practice has also provided fertile ground for foreign online casinos. It is precisely the reputation of online casinos that has soared in recent years.

The first online casinos entered the domestic market around the turn of the millennium. Veikkaus actually hit the market as early as 1997, but soon afterwards foreign casinos also started to offer their services to enthusiastic northerners. Initially, however, casino gaming required external downloads from customers and the games did not yet work directly in the browser.

Today, casino games such as Play'n GO's Book of Dead, released in 2016, have succeeded in making casino gambling a mainstream entertainment. The prospect of winning money fascinates Finns and drives many of us to play every month.

4. Fortnite

What would a list like this be without Fortnite - that insanely entertaining and addictive battle royale game's uncrowned king?

The insanely popular Fortnite was launched in 2017, developed by US-based Epic Games. Fortnite's main game format, Battle Royale, has already generated well over a billion euros in revenue for its owner, making it one of the most lucrative games around.

There are a number of reasons for Fortnite's success. In Battle Royale, 100 players are simultaneously dropped onto a vast island, where their goal is to amass an arsenal of weapons to defeat the other players. The winner is the last player or team standing on the ever-shrinking playing field. The concept is ingenious in its simplicity and, like many games, Fortnite can be played competitively for money.

Although the age limit for Fortnite is 12, due to its shooter nature, the game's colourful design has made it a favourite with slightly younger players. Another important factor has been the free-to-play nature of the game: you can download Fortnite for free, and it's mainly the extra features and cosmetic updates that have made Epic Games an incredible pot of money.

Unlike the other games on our list, Fortnite beats its biggest rivals thanks to its so-called cross-platform support. Players can pit their skills against each other across multiple platforms. For example, the same 100-player race could include players on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 5, Xbox and PC.

5. World of Warcraft

Earlier in our list, we mentioned the Dota series, which was already inspired by the Warcraft series. But now we're going to take a look at Blizzard Entertainment's most famous product by far, World of Warcraft, or WoW, which was released at the end of 2004.

Worlf of Warcraft represents the popular MMORPG genre. In English, the full name of the genre is 'massive multiplayer online role-playing game'. Whereas in MOBA-based Dota, players fight and compete exclusively against each other, World of Warcraft is primarily a cooperative game against dragons and other hostile inhabitants of a fantasy world. WoW has even been found in some studies to develop a range of work-life skills.

World of Warcraft has become known to many lay people mainly through news reports and rumours that certain players play the game for hours every day. The addictive character development nature of the game often sucks players in for long periods at a time, which has helped to create an enthusiastic community of players.

Summary

Today, almost all of us spend at least an hour or two of our day online. Perhaps too often, this time is spent passively browsing the web. However, entertaining online games often make our time online more enjoyable. The best games add excitement and richness to our everyday lives.

A playful age for all ages! So don't get too serious, and by all means keep games in your life too!