Spilbar #68
STATE OF THE UNION + PARTY
Date: 21/10-2026
Time: 16-22
Location: KADK, Entrance K
Danneskiold-Samsøes Allé 51, 1435 København K
Join us for the annual State of the Union talks at the end of October. We've invited some key voices in the industry to give us an update, because the Danish games industry has seen some big changes over the past year. To keep the conversation going, SpilBar is bringing together the community to discuss where we’re headed and what’s next.
...AND one more thing: there's also a party this time around. See the whole program below.
Everybody is welcome and no sign-up needed.
If you have a game you would like to showcase, then sign up here before Monday, October 19th at 12:00
Program
16:00 Doors open
16:30: Welcome and short introduction by the SpilBar organizers Helena Sokol & Thomas Vigild
16:40: What happens if Denmark decides to play to win? Jan Neiiendam, CEO of Nimbi
For years, we've been debating whether games are culture or business. Meanwhile, players moved on. Creators moved on. The rest of the world moved on. This isn't a talk about why games matter. It's a talk about what happens when a country stops debating what games are and starts deciding what it wants them to become. About cultural impact. About global reach. About building stories, studios and creative talent that shape culture at home and travel abroad. Because Denmark’s leading games today aren't choosing between culture and business. They're building both. The question is: what happens if Denmark decides to do the same?
17:05: Fun in Theory and Practice: A Status on Game Research - Jesper Juul, The Royal Academy
What has the dry world of academic game studies and game education ever done for us?
In this talk I will give an overview of the landscape of game educations in Denmark, and present the most wild, interesting, and/or useful research results from the last few years.
17:30: Short break
17:45: State of the Unions - Mads Søndersgrup, Game Workers Guild
Game Workers Guild is an organisation that was created as a community driven initiative when PROSA, HK, FAF and DM came together to create the Game Workers Initiative. We have been doing quite a few things behind the scenes and out in the open, but who are Game Workers Guild? What is a union and why should you care as someone who wants to work or is already working in the games industry? Organise your friends and come listen in, ask questions and understand why what we do is so important and how you can be part of it as well. We'll tell you about what we've been doing but also what we are planning to do in the near future and beyond.
18:10: It’s politics baby! - Niels Wetterberg, Director of Games Denmark.
Why 2027 has to be the year the industry stops reacting and starts setting the agenda.
18:35 Q&A with all 4 speakers - moderated by Thomas Vigild, head of DADIU.
18:50: Mingling and beers and surprises + PARTY. Food available.
22:00 Good night
BIOS
Jan Neiiendam
Jan is CEO of NIMBI – Denmark's Institute for Game Development and has spent the last 15 years helping build the Danish games industry by connecting creators, studios, educators, policymakers and investors. A lifelong fan of strategy games, action games and board games, he approaches industry building much the same way: pick a win condition, assemble the right party, and stop arguing about whose turn it is. Having helped launch industry initiatives, talent programmes and communities across the ecosystem, he now works with NIMBI and industry partners to turn decades of discussion into coordinated action. Because winning nations do not choose between culture and business. They build both.
Jesper Juul
A video game theorist and occasional developer, Jesper Juul works at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen, but has previously taught at MIT and New York University. He coedits the MIT Press Playful Thinking series. His books include Half-Real, The Art of Failure, Handmade Pixels, and most recently Too Much Fun: The Five Lives of the Commodore 64 Computer.
Mads Sønderstrup
Mads is a trained programmer specializing in game design and theory. He has worked with software for almost 10 years, including games, and is involved in many different parts of the Danish game industry. He is an organizer at Nordic Game Jam, the largest event of its kind in Europe, where he is responsible for the program, and he is also part of the Working Group at the Game Workers Guild, where he primarily handles event planning. Mads has also attended several SpilBar events and actively writes about the events he attends, attracting several thousand readers at a time on his blog.
Niels A. Wetterberg
Niels is the director of Games Denmark. Ex-founder and ex-CEO of Invisible Walls.
About SpilBar
Since 2010, SpilBar has gathered professionals and interested in and around the games industry for talks and mingling. The talks are always based around ideas worth spreading and meant to be inspirational and always in a format that is open to everyone. The talks are always followed by time to meet and mingle.
SpilBar is curated by Helena Sokol (Games Denmark), Simon Løvind (NIMBI) & Thomas Vigild (DADIU).
The SpilBar format was developed by Interactive Denmark, Thomas Vigild and Kristine Ploug.
SpilBar is sponsored by Spilordningen / NIMBI and Games Denmark.