Remedy veteran starts new Finnish game startup

Remedy Entertainment game veteran Oskari “Ozz” Häkkinen has started a new mobile-game and app startup called Futurefly.

Häkkinen, the former head of franchise development at Remedy, the maker of hit games like Alan Wake, has started a new studio with nine employees in Helsinki, a hotbed of mobile-game startups. Mobile games are expected to become a $30 billion business this year, eclipsing console games on a global basis, according to market researcher Newzoo.

The team has game and consumer app veterans from companies like Remedy, Electronic Arts, Sulake, Grey Area, Microsoft, and User Intelligence. They have worked on titles including Alan Wake, Habbo Hotel, Shadow Cities, Death Rally, Hero Hunt, Agents of Storm, Puzzle Bandits, and the upcoming Xbox One exclusive, Quantum Break.

Futurefly’s aim is to create traditional non-game consumer applications by uniting them with gameplay.

Above: Futurefly

Image Credit: Futrurefly

“In early 2014, I came up with a concept that I simply couldn’t let go of and ended up putting together a garage band of developers to bring it to life, working on it in our free time,” Häkkinen, the chief product officer at Futurefly, said in an email. “Things started to develop and click together, and since then a lot has happened. We got funding and started out on this new exciting adventure, entering the world of startups.”

“We are thrilled to be healthily backed by our investors at this stage, both financially and on our vision,” he said. “We are on a mission to disrupt the consumer app space with games on the top of our minds. We are designing consumer apps with playable mechanics as part of the primary input mechanism.”

Häkkinen added, “This is a new take, and something that is better shown than talked about. Fortunately, we are well into the development of our first installment, so you won’t have to wait too long.”

Häkkinen said the team is building a mobile game messenger that promises all the goodness from apps like WhatsApp, Kik Messenger, and WeChat, but with game features that are core throughout the experience.

The team received angel funding in 2014 and is also backed by Tekes, the Finnish fund for Technology and Innovation.