-   We are obviously very pleased and immensely proud of the tremendous response that Battlefield 3 has received. And of course it's even more fun to be appreciated in our home market, said Karl Magnus Troedsson, CEO at DICE.

Among the other games to have been well received by Sweden's gaming public include Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, FIFA 12 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Sims 3 and the LEGO games.

The list refers only to sales from stores and does not feature sales from digital distribution, which means games for iPhone, Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, or other platforms are not included.

Sweden's most sold Swedish developed game 2011

1. Battlefield 3 (DICE)
2. Battlefield Bad Company 2 (DICE)
3. Medal of Honor (DICE)
4. Just Cause 2 (Avalanche)
5. Battlefield 2 (DICE)
6. Backpacker 3 (Pan Vision)
7. Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter (SVT Interactive)
8. Battlefield Bad Company (DICE)
9. Kalle Kunskap 4-7 år (Prelusion/Nordic Softsales)
10. The Fight: Lights Out (Coldwood Interactive)

Top selling game in Sweden

1. Battlefield 3 (DICE)
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Infinity Ward)
3. FIFA 12 (EA)
4. The Elder Scrolls V: SKyrim
5. FIFA 11 (EA)
6. LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars
7. NHL 12 (EA)
8. The Sims 3 (EA)
9. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Treyarch)
10. LA Noire (Team Bondi, Rockstar)

For Battlefield 3 related questions contact:

Jenny Huldschiner, informationschef

jenny.huldschiner@dice.se

08-658 78 00

For questions related to the sales charts:

Alf-Henrik Nordby

alf@spillforeningen.no

For questions related to Dataspelsgalan contact:

Maria Tjärnlund

Maria.tjarnlund@dataspelsbranschen.se

Mobil: 0734069069

www.dataspelsgalan.se

-   The sale of games for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 continues to grow by 11 percent and 2 percent in volume respectively compared to 2010. The sale of PC games fell by nearly 16 percent in volume and thus at the moment is no longer the largest format, said Johan Mannerhill, Chairman for the Swedish Games Industry.

Today, the sale of video games occurs via other distribution channels, such as via the digital distribution of PC games. Figures for these are presently not available and they include services such as; Steam, Origin, Gamersgate and Ztorm.

-   The sale of PC games in physical form may have decreased but the platform is a long way from being dead. The question is whether any other game format has enjoyed the same level of relative stability over so many years. PC users have been quick to embrace digital distribution and the platform is the obvious choice for MMO games. There are also games with a free-to-play model - virtually non-existent on the console market - or freely available web and Facebook games. They also generate revenues," concludes Jacob Kroon, analyst for Nordic Game Sales 2011.

-   "GfK's goal is that all key participants in the market who sell games digitally begin sharing sales data so that the industry can have an independent panel to measure the digital part of game sales. It will be very interesting to see how the development of the games market as a whole will look like when we put together the sale of physically distributed gaming with that of digitally distributed games, says Magdalena Jönsson, project manager for Game sales tracking at GfK.

Click here to download the full report.

Statistics are compiled by Media-Control GfK and based on sales in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark as reported by retailers. Note that only game sales are reported. Hardware sales such as consoles used to play the games are not taken into account.

About Nordic Game Sales

Nordic Game Sales is an annual report which is compiled by analyzing data provided by Gfk-Media Control. The analysis carried out in cooperation with the Nordic branch organizations.

GfK Group

GfK is one of the largest research companies in the world. In Scandinavia we are number three.  Our business units Custom Research, Consumer Tracking, Health care and Retail and Technology offer fact-based analysis and advice which is based on custom solutions, consumer, residential and retail panels. No one can offer this kind of variety. Gfk - insight driven business development partner. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

For more information regarding the report:

Alf-Henrik Nordby, Analyst, Nordic Game Sales 2011

alf@spillforeningen.no

Magdalena Jönsson, Project Manager, Nordic Game Sales Tracking, Gfk

Magdalena.jonsson@gfk.com

The premier was an unprecedented success with over 1300 votes cast and a gala party at the nightclub Ambassadeur in Stockholm. The event was hosted by Angelica Norgren, radio show host of P3 Spel. The jury consisted of Magnus Alm (Chairman), Free Lunch Design, Linus Blomberg, Avalanche and Tommy Palm, Fabrication Games.

Winners are presented below:

Studio

Winner: Tarsier Studios

Talent

Winner: Patrick Bach

Technology

Winner: Bitsquid

Designer

Winner: Markus Persson

Graphics

Winner: Simon Flesser

Sound

Winner: Stefan Strandberg

Script

Winner: Odd Ahlgren

Online

Winner: Bloodline Champions

This year the nominees are based on the most sold games in Sweden as provided by media control-Gfk as well as those nominated in the Game of the Year category.

Voting will take place at:

www.dataspelsgalan.se/folkets-val

The nominees for the People's choice award are:

• Assasins Creed: Revelations
• Batman: Arkham City
• Battlefield 3
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• Crysis 2
• Deux Ex: Human Revolution
• Dragon Age 2
• Fifa 12
• Gears of Wars 3
• L.A. Noire
• Lego Pirates of the caribbean
• Lego Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars
• Need for Speed: The Run
• NHL 12
• Portal 2
• Skylanders: Spyros Adventure
• Star Wars: The old republic
• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
• Sims 3: Pets
• Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception

For inquiries regarding Swedish Video Game Awards Gala contact:

Gala Project manager

Maria Tjärnlund

Maria.tjarnlund@dataspelsbranschen.se

"2011 proved to be a year when, in several categories even the big titles had a hard time simply getting nominated.  I must admit that I, in some cases was quite surprised that some of the categories, included the nominees that they did, said, chairperson of the jury, Ove Kaufeldt.

The nominees for the People's choice award will be presented on 16 February on www.dataspelsgalan.se where the voting will take place.

The nominees for these years' awards are:

Game of the year

• Batman: Arkham City
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution
• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• L.A. Noire
• Portal 2
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Swedish game of the year

• Battlefield 3
• Hamilton's Great Adventure
• Ilomilo
• Magicka
• Minecraft
• Renegade Ops

Casual game of the year

• Dance Central 2
• Fruit Ninja Kinect
• Ilomilo
• Minecraft

Action game of the year

• Batman: Arkham City
• Battlefield 3
• Gears of War 3
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Platform game of the year

• Kirby's Epic Yarn
• Little Big Planet 2
• Rayman: Origins
• Super Mario 3D Land

Sports game of the year

• Fifa 12
• Football Manager 2012
• NHL 12
• Top Spin 4

Strategy game of the year

• Football Manager 2012
• From Dust
• Might and Magic: Heroes 6
• Total War: Shogun 2

Adventure game of the year

• Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
• Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
• Witcher 2

Party game of the year

• Dance Central 2
• Just Dance 3
• Little Big Planet 2
• Rayman: Origins

Multiplayer game of the year

• Battlefield 3
• Fifa 12
• Portal 2
• Star Wars: The Old Republic

Racing game of the year

• Dirt 3
• Driver San Francisco
• Forza Motorsport 4
• Mario Kart 7

For questions regarding the nominations please contact:

Chairperson of the jury

Ove Kaufeldt

Ove.kaufeldt@shin-ken.se

For inquiries regarding Swedish Video Game Award Gala contact:

Gala Project manager

Maria Tjärnlund

Maria.tjarnlund@dataspelsbranschen.se

When and where:

Day: Tuesday 7 February 2012

Time: 14 - 17

Place: Filmhuset and Bio Victor

Address: Borgvägen 1, Stockholm, Karlaplan subway

To register interest: Contact Aki Nyman (aki.nyman@statensmedierad.se) by 2 February

(attendance is free and all interested parties are welcome)

See the full program here.

The event will be held on the evening of the 17th of February with a soon to be revealed location.

Nominate the person(s) you believe has over the past twelve months earned the chance to win this prestigious award. '

Nominations close on the 6th of February.

Voting commences on the 8th of February.

Voting will be done at Nordic Game Stockholm.

It is because of different interpretations of the EU VAT rules that double the double taxation situation arose. In a parliamentary debate last week, finance minister Anders Borg made reference to ongoing negotiations with the EU VAT Committee, but promised a "relatively speedy resolution." It is whilst awaiting clear guidelines from the EU that the Swedish Tax Agency has now decided to act and refrain from demanding double tax from Swedish app developers. The Swedish Games Industry together with others had previously criticized the government for sacrificing Swedish companies while EU member states have failed to reach an agreement, but this means that such a situation has been avoided.

Swedish Tax Agency statement (Swedish)

"For almost two decades it had been predicted that digital distribution would overtake traditional boxed sales and only now does it look like that shift is happening. Even if approximately 85% of sales still occurs via physical channels, for the first time since we began compiling this dats, that figure is starting to drop. The transformation from games as a product to games as a service seems to be here," says Per Strömbäck, spokesperson for the Swedish Games Industry.

The report is based on a compilation of annual reports for companies operating in game development. The Game Developer Index 2010 comprises of 106 companies. Since the compilation only includes limited companies, there is some loss of business, such as those which are registered as partnership or sole proprietorships.

Games rated via PEGI Express will display the familiar age rating icons that video games on consoles and PC are already using, so consumers can easily recognize and understand the ratings. PEGI Express is not a different rating system - it uses the same criteria as ratings for console games and verification will be handled by PEGI administrator NICAM - but it is a new process built specifically to deal with the surge of mobile games.

Developers will be able to access the PEGI Express tool directly through the Windows Phone platform as an integral part of the app submission process. Submitting a game requires a very short time: games with barely or no content that can be inappropriate for children of a certain age are classed at once. Only as the amount and diversity of potentially inappropriate content increases, more questions need to be answered.

The move has been applauded by Microsoft with Chris Lewis, VP IEB, Microsoft EMEA saying, "PEGI continues to play a crucial role in the interactive entertainment sector. As a founding member of PEGI, Microsoft continues its strong commitment to safe entertainment by working together with PEGI to help developers rate their games quickly and effectively."

"We are very pleased to have Microsoft as a committed partner and we are delighted that the Windows Phone Platform is the first to feature this new technology", commented Simon Little, Managing Director of PEGI S.A. "PEGI Express fills a clear need for a system to classify mobile game content so that informed decisions can be made by parents.

For more on PEGI Express visit: http://www.pegi.info/en/index/id/1068/nid/36