The blog is popping off lately 👀 Hot on the heels of our Demo Night recap, here's the Spring 2026 Icelandic Games Roundup - and there's a lot going on. The local scene has been busy these past few weeks, and we've rounded it all up in one place. Give it a read 👇

New on the GMI blog - we recap our April Demo Night at Innovation House, with a look at all the games that were showcased on the night. From cozy bee sims to wild west deck-builders, there was a lot of talent in the room! 🎮 Read the recap 👇

We were incredibly happy to welcome Harry Krueger, Game Director on Returnal, to the very first Reykjavík Game Summit. In a fireside interview with Ari Arnbjörnsson from Developer Relations at Epic Games, the core message was simple and powerful: gameplay comes first.

We were delighted to welcome Johan Pilestedt, Chief Creative Officer at Arrowhead Game Studios and Creative Director on Helldivers 2, for a fireside chat at the first Reykjavík Game Summit.

At RGS 2025, independent game dev Kim Ström spoke candidly about his experience marketing his game Penguin Heist and utilizing memes to crack the front page on Reddit multiple times. The central idea he works from is that if something worked once to gain traction it is likely to work again later.

Winter Mullenix (@winwin.bsky.social) is the lead Narrative Designer on EVE Online at @ccpgames.com. At Reykjavík Game Summit 2025, she offered a deep look at how narrative structure can shape the way players think, feel, and respond.

At Reykjavík Game Summit 2025, @loa-gunnars.bsky.social, game designer and adjunct instructor at Reykjavik University, shared a refreshing perspective drawn from her experience teaching game design and working with students.

Reykjavík Game Summit 2025 kicked off with @hashimusashi.bsky.social, Game Design Director on EVE Online at @ccpgames.com, sharing a talk called '23 Years of Game Design's Untaught Lessons'.

Huge thanks to our speakers, our sponsors, and everyone who joined us for the first-ever Reykjavík Game Summit last week! 💚 The event came to life because of all of you and the talks, fireside chats, connections, and conversations made the day feel genuinely special.

Hæ from Reykjavík! Huge thanks to @flassari.bsky.social for being part of the very first Reykjavík Game Summit, and for capturing this great moment along the way! 📸

Had a wonderful time talking at the Reykjavík Game Summit! Thank you, @gamemakersiceland.bsky.social, for having me!

First ever Reykjavik Game summit happened yesterday, great kudos to @gamemakersiceland.bsky.social and @alexandrabjarg.bsky.social for putting it together, really wonderful to see such a thing start to happen in Iceland.

Ticket sales for the first-ever Reykjavík Game Summit are on fire 🔥 RGS is a full-day event for Iceland’s professional gamedev community - a day of talks, fireside chats and inspiration. Seats are almost gone, so grab yours now! Get your ticket: tix.is/event/20599/...

I I / I / I I / I — Project Signal demo This is a narrative experience and the first thing I've ever made for SEGA MegaDrive/Genesis. I didn't know if what I wanted to do was technically possible or within my means. www.aeriform.io/veil available to supporters for now— #indiedev #megadrive #retro

Thanks to all of you who attended the studio visit yesterday, and a huge thanks again to the Porcelain Fortress team for hosting us! 🫶 We wrote a quick recap of the visit.👇 We're planning to write more so if you're interested, subscribe to us on Substack to get our posts emailed to you for free!

Yesterday was the end of @gamemakersiceland.bsky.social Summer Game Jam 2025. I contributed art and animation to Ferry Fury, a game about ferrying a priest past a massive tidal wave.

Just released the first public demo for my game Dig-In WW1 Colony sim / Strategy Demo available for this week only! vitargames.itch.io/dig-in-demo

This was a fun #gamedev interview. Icelandic studio #PorcelainFortress was running out of time and running out of cash... then they found a winning promo strategy that made their stumbling multiplayer game an international smash hit. @gamemakersiceland.bsky.social grapevine.is/icelandic-cu...

Thank you to everyone who came out for Demo Night last week! ☀️ And a huge shoutout to everyone who demoed their games! 👏 It’s always inspiring to see the creativity, passion, and talent in our community. Can’t wait to see what you’re building next!

Huge thanks to @ccpgames.com for hosting us last week! Big shout-out to our amazing speakers—Anna Guðbjörg Cowden, Brent Stéphane Hall, Nic Junius, and Michael Hooper—for sharing their insights and passion. We learned so much!

The 2025 Unity Gaming Report is here – and this year, we’re going back to basics with a more focused and streamlined analysis zeroing in on game production. For the complete picture, download the 2025 Unity Gaming Report now: on.unity.com/3DNHN5E

My dayjob cut my workhours recently, so I'm looking for more art-related work. Hit me up if you're in the market for fun, colorful cartoons!

We're heading back to our friends at CCP Games for a Studio Visit this April! Please note that space is limited, and we need a headcount for snacks & drinks—so please register in advance!

Thanks to everyone who joined us last night! It was amazing to see so many new and familiar faces, share stories, and nerd out about game dev together. Can’t wait for the next one! 🎉

See you all tomorrow, Wednesday March 5th, for a casual game dev meetup at Le Kock! 🍻 We'll be there from 19:00-21:00.

If anyone's interested in what #gamedev is like in Iceland, here's a thread of my coverage! First up, a story on the scene in general, with CCP (EVE Online), indie dev @joonturbo.bsky.social (NUTS, Phantom Spark), the @gamemakersiceland.bsky.social grassroots org, and ambitious startup Myrkur.

Thank you all for a brilliant event last night! Huge props again to the Ascension team for taking us behind the scenes on their journey from ideation to winning the 2024 holiday game jam! The talk was jam packed with insights and we hope it was an inspiration to aspiring jammers out there 🙌 🤩 👑

Five years ago @torfi.bsky.social and I published Out of the Loop. The game's popularity has grown year by year (I think probably 10 million people have played it by now) and we have wanted to finally update it with more content. Today we added four new categories to the game!

We're excited to announce the theme of this year's holiday-season Community Game Jam! The theme is: Pólstjörnur (Pole stars). We are so looking forward to seeing your various interpretations of the theme! 🌟

I’m putting together a starter pack for the Icelandic Game Scene 🇮🇸 📦 DM me if I somehow missed you! 🙌

Hey all! 👋 we are a grassroots community organization dedicated to growing a vibrant and diverse games scene in Iceland. We host meet-ups, game jams and more & we are so excited to be here on Bluesky! ☁️