Behind the Scenes at Nordic Game 2025: GameDev Trends and Interview with QATestLab’s Delegation

by Iryna Baranovska | June 4, 2025 1:10 pm

From mind-bending AI mechanics to indie titles that hit harder than expected, Nordic Game 2025 proved one thing: the future of gaming is bold, experimental, and impossible without rock-solid quality. In this recap, we’re reflecting on the event’s standout trends, unforgettable moments, and honest insights from the QATestLab’s delegation. Curious where the industry is heading? Here’s what we discovered 👇

Event Overview

Nordic Game is one of Europe’s leading game development conferences, held annually in Malmö, Sweden. The 2025 edition gathered a diverse crowd of global studios, indie creators, and tech innovators to explore key topics like AI integration, accessibility, and cross-platform design.

But Nordic Game is more than just panels and demos — it’s a community. Friendly and open, the event creates space for sincere conversations, peer-to-peer exchange, and building long-term connections across the industry.

Our Team 

Representing QATestLab at this year’s event were:

• Tetiana Avramova [1]– Key Account Manager with a strong background in B2B relations and solution-driven consulting. Tetiana has brought a strategic perspective to game development partnerships.
• Nataliia Hrushka[2] – Game Program Manager, specializing in game QA and production workflows. Nataliia works closely with various game studios to design tailored testing strategies, ensuring that both indie and AAA titles meet the highest quality and player experience standards. 

Let’s ask them about their impressions! 

Q: What trends stood out the most at Nordic Game this year?

Nataliia: AI came up constantly in talks, demos, and casual conversations. Accessibility[3] was also a significant theme, reflecting a growing awareness of inclusive design and tools that help optimize games for people with disabilities.

Tetiana: I’d add that AI is no longer just a background tool — it’s being built directly into game mechanics and narratives. This opens up new opportunities but also creates complex testing challenges.

Q: What was the biggest surprise of the event? Any new players that caught your attention?

Nataliia: I was surprised by how strongly the event is built around networking. Beyond the official program, the real magic happened in informal chats. People were relaxed, honest, and eager to share their real challenges.

Tetiana: This year, we also noticed a gaming industry taking shape in countries that previously had little presence on the global gaming scene. One such example is Greece, which is actively building its game development market almost from scratch and is starting to attract attention from the international community.

Q: Were there any specific games that really impressed you? Maybe something from the indie scene?

Nataliia: Yes! One that stood out was Gulag — I even got to play it. I think using games to explore complex historical topics is powerful. From the indie side, I liked Lorelei and the Laser Eyes — it’s visually stunning, a bit surreal, and just beautifully designed. I love puzzle games, so I intend to play it when I get the chance. Another one I appreciated for its aesthetics was Miniatures. It’s a stunning project with amazing art and great sound design.

Q: You said you noticed an ever-growing interest in topics like accessibility and AI. What about test automation?

Nataliia: As for automation[4], I did have a few conversations with several companies about it. But regarding the event content itself, I’d say AI and accessibility were more visible.

Tetiana: Test automation [5]interests many, especially larger studios, because it helps speed up the process and improve efficiency. However, they’re also aware that the unique nature of games doesn’t always allow for full automation, particularly when it comes to creative gameplay elements or assessing player experience. Additionally, automation often requires significant resources to develop and maintain testing tools, so it’s used selectively.

Q: So, can you say that the gamedev community shows more interest in testing than before?

Nataliia: Definitely. Even teams who aren’t actively testing right now are already thinking ahead and showing genuine interest in QA as something they’ll need in the near future. 

Tetiana: 100%. Today, game testing is seen as a critical stage of development, essential for releasing a high-quality product. This understanding is shared by large AAA studios, indie teams, and even solo developers. The growing recognition of testing’s role is driven by players’ increasing expectations for stability, game balance, and overall experience. 

Q: Natalia, were there any approaches or ideas you’d like to adopt in our company?

Nataliia: I couldn’t attend as many sessions as I’d hoped, but one thing that stood out was how deeply AI is becoming embedded across all processes. That means our testing approach needs to keep up (spoiler: we are implementing AI in all our processes already, just wait for details).

Q: And can you see yourself returning next year? In what role?

Nataliia: Yes, absolutely — in the same role. Nordic Game is excellent for networking, and since many attendees return each year, I’d love to catch up with them in a year to see what’s new and how things have evolved.

Q: Nataliia, the last thing we’d like to know is how you think game development will look in 2–3 years and what role QA will play in that transformation.

Nataliia: We’ll see even more AI in gameplay mechanics — that shift is already happening. There will be more genre-defying projects and better support for multiple platforms. As for testing, I think QA will also evolve with AI — both as a tool within testing processes and as something that needs to be tested and trained. I also expect more focus on testing actual player experience, since that’s a topic gaining traction now.

Wrapping Up

For QATestLab, Nordic Game 2025 was a joy to be part of it all. The energy, the people, the projects — unforgettable. But we’re not stopping here. 

Our next game visit? Devcom and Gamescom in Cologne, Germany! We’re packing insights, inspiration, and testing expertise — and can’t wait to meet more teams shaping the future of games.

📍 Stay tuned — more details coming soon. See you in Cologne!

[6]

Related Posts:

• How Compliance Testing Powers Game Releases[7]
• E-show 2025: The Rise of AI and Automation in E-commerce[8]
• Game Dev Collaboration Between Designers and QA Teams[9]

Source URL: https://blog.qatestlab.com/2025/06/04/nordic-game-2025-gamedev-trends-and-interview-with-qatestlabs-delegation/

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