Barcelona Games World is the meeting point for publishers, developers, business angels, investment funds and indie studios in the field of video games, both national and internationally. Barcelona will host from November 29 to December 2 the third edition of this digital entertainment fair that last year welcomed more than 135.000 visitors.
The Catalan video game industry is one of the most dynamic sectors in the digital content field, positioning itself as the driving force for the digital economy. The industry has excellent business opportunities and excellent job creation prospects as it is taking shape as a young, innovative industry with global vision.
More than 130 companies in the Catalan gaming ecosystem
There are 130 video game companies established in Catalonia (28.9% of the Spanish total), with 2,441 employees (3almost 45% of Spain) and a €318M turnover (51.7% of Spain). In 2015, Catalan companies developed about 150 games, 40% for mobiles and 30% for online platforms.
In the last 5 years, Catalonia has been the 1st Southern European region in FDI job creation in the video game industry (fDi Markets). In the same period, Catalonia has been the 2nd Southern European region in FDI projects in video game, that represents a Capex of 29.8M€, and has concentrated 85.7% of the FDI projects received within the video game sector in Spain. National and international video game companies have invested in Catalonia, from local young entrepreneurs that have ended acquired, such as Social Point or Akamon, to big multinational companies, such Activision King or Ubisoft.
The Catalan video game industry is largely young and international, with companies such as Social Point, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, Gameloft, Tangelo Games, Digital Legends, Novarama, Bee Square, Kerad Games, BlitWorks, U-Play Online, Abylight, BCNmultimedia, Game Troopers, Moonbite or Macflai Games.
Entrepreneurial spirit
Barcelona is recognized as the best technological ecosystem in Southern Europe and some of the companies born here are known for their growth potential. The city is Western Europe’s mostattractive metropolitan area for investment (Site selection), and a global benchmark for smart and mobile cities (Second Smart City in the World).
With startups being one of the strongest employment and income creators in Europe, Barcelona is the 1st hub in Southern Europe in terms of startups.(Start-Up Genome, 2017). Furthermore, the Catalan capital ranks extremely well in terms of cost of living & best location for office space costs.
In its third annual report on the Technological Panorama in Europe, the investment fund Atomico highlights that Barcelona is the third city preferred by entrepreneurs to create a new startup, only behind London and Berlin.
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