This post is also available in: Danish

The young game studio Eddaheim offers a high-end cinematic videogame drama with actor Lars Mikkelsen as the main character. They are growing towards shipping their flagship title to a global market – and they have done it all with far less resources similar projects.

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Sponsored: This article is published in collaboration with Eddaheim

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It started with a dream about telling stories. Impactful stories that lasts a lifetime, like Festen and Forbrydelsen. But how do you transform that dream into a highly polished videogame when you are just students from The National Film School of Denmark?

»It was a big idea. Most people thought we would need 100-200 people and a multimillion dollars budget for this. That would be nice, but with technology these days, we found a way to do it smarter by building tech-partnerships and new processes,« Mark Iversen explains.

Today, it’s no longer a dream but a game studio called Eddaheim. In just 18 months it has grown to 20 people who have build the first glimpses of a tech-dystopian noir-drama game called Neon Knights – Humanity Erased. A game set in a future Copenhagen featuring the famous actor Lars Mikkelsen (House of Cards, The Witcher) as the main character. All made possible by utilizing technologies to punch above their weight.

Necessity breeds creativity

Previously, motion capture and virtual production was exclusive available to Hollywood and the biggest game studios. But by utilizing the new software like Unreal Engine and partnering with new tech-startups like Rokoko and Rigsters, Eddaheim has gained a tech-driven firstmover advantage to empower their storytelling.

»I think it’s a part of the DNA in the Danish film industry: necessity breeds creativity. If you don’t have 300 people and a big budget, then you have to get creative and figure out other ways to do it. In the end, the audience doesn’t care about how you made it. It’s not about the technology, but how we can use it to build better stories for our audience,« Mark Iversen says.

In the same way, the three founders have used their insights and network from film production to add cinematic value to their game by engaging film photographers and sound designer to their virtual production. And the results snown in the first trailer for Neon Knights speaks for itself: An enthralling drama with an incredible production value.

The home of stories

For now, Eddaheim is making an ambitious videogame for a global market, that is already bigger than than movies and music combined. But their ambitions doesn’t stop here: They want to become “the home of stories”, a nordic powerhouse of entertainment. And Neon Knights is just the first step in that journey.

»There are team that make a game and team that want to make a company. We are the latter, and we want to grow big,« Mark Iversen says and continues:

»Our vision is to tell stories that lasts a lifetime and to bring the Danish storytelling tradition to the booming global games market.«

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Eddaheim & Neon Knights – Humanity Erased

• Neon Knights: Humanity Erased started as a graduation project from the National Film School of Denmark in June 2019, and is now under development as a full-fledged game. Neon Knights: Humanity Erased is a psychological noir game set in a frozen Copenhagen in the year 2079. The story follows Nik Gates, played by Lars Mikkelsen, a digital exorcist belonging to a secretive order called the Transenders
• The three founders, Foudners: Mark Bansak Iversen (Creative director), Alexander Tange (Narrative Director) and Willian Wrede Elung-Jensen (Managing director), utilized technology to make the game stand out: Unreal Engine 5, Rokoko motion capture, Faceware facial capture and a digital copy of Lars Mikkelsen, 3D scanned by Rigsters.
• Eddaheim is the company behind the game as has reveived DFI-funding, VC-funding from the Swedish fund Behold Ventures as well as Epic Mega Grant December 2021. This has helped the company grow from 6 people in a basement to 20 employees in 18 months.

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