
Sweden is among the world’s top nations in video game development, with global hits like Minecraft, Candy Crush Saga and the Battlefield series calling Sweden home.
But how did it all start, and what was the scene like before these successful games? A new book by Thomas “Sol” Sunhede and Martin Lindell called “Svensk videospelsutveckling” (“Swedish Video Game Development”) takes an in-depth look at the Swedish video games phenomenon, from early experiments on mainframe computers during the 50’s and 60’s to small one-man developers on classic home computers such as ABC 80 and Commodore 64, continuing to the influential demo-scene and studios of the early 90’s that would eventually conquer the world.
Check out a lecture by Thomas “Sol” Sunhede and Martin Lindell on Swedish game development history in conjunction wth the book’s release at Retrospelsfestivalen 2016 in Malmö:
Two years in the making, “Svensk videospelsutveckling” is based on 150 interviews with the game developers who founded the video games industry in Sweden. Learn more about the book (in Swedish only) on the publisher’s website here.