Finland Joins European Software Federation

Officials from the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) have announced that the Finnish Games and Multimedia Association (FIGMA) is to join the organization and become its 26th member. Established in 1998 the ISFE represents the interests of the games industry throughout the twenty-seven EU Member States plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Its membership comprises thirteen major publishers of interactive software as well as thirteen interactive software trade associations throughout Europe. FIGMA managing director Riku Olkkonen said membership in the ISFE "will bring my member companies more scope to get their voices heard by the legislators in areas such as intellectual property, e-commerce, the fight against piracy, WTO negotiations, protection of minors and the environment.” Although dominated by mobile phone company Nokia, the Finnish games industry also includes FlatOut developer Bugbear, mobile developer Fathammer, Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command developer RedLynx and Shadowgrounds developer Frozenbyte. FIGMA members are predominately publishers and distributors though, including AMO/Nintendo, Atari, Electronic Arts, K.E. Media, Microsoft/Xbox, Nokia, Nordisk Film/PlayStation, Plan 1, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Toptronics/PAN Vision and Vivendi Games. Said Chazerand, secretary general of ISFE, said “FIGMA counts eleven members in its association, all of them big software companies operating on the Finnish market. Its presence in the ISFE strengthens the industry’s voice in Europe. It will help us do several things: push on with our mission to secure effective legislation for the protection of intellectual property rights, achieve adequate enforcement of the legislation and win unrestricted market access both on and off line.”