In Barcelona it is already common for senior executives from video game companies to appear in the city to look for business opportunities. Just a few years ago they only set foot in Catalonia during fairs and congresses but now, in the 22@ district, it is not strange to find executives from large multinationals such as Microsoft, Rovio, Take Two, Ubisoft, Bandai Namco, Gameloft, Paradox or Funplus.
Recently, these companies have opened offices with hundreds of workers specialized in video game development on a global scale. They take advantage of the talent that emerges from universities and also the proposals of small independent video game studios. The latest example: the collaboration between Alike Studio and the Japanese multinational Bandai Namco, which has commissioned the Tamagotchi video game, the popular digital pet that during the nineties claimed the care of the little ones in the house.
“After the pandemic, Barcelona has become a mandatory stop when these Asian or North American executives visit Europe,” says Iván Fernández Lobo, promoter of the association of video game companies Devicat. “Barcelona and Spain as a whole already have impact and influence on a global level,” confirms Xavier Carrillo, founder of the Digital Legends studio, acquired by the giant Activision Blizzard (Microsoft), which develops the popular violence game Call of Duty in the city. .
According to the Llibre blanc of the Catalan video joc industry, prepared by the Generalitat, the Catalan ecosystem is made up of 196 companies, a quarter of the country's total, and its workforce reaches 4,249 workers, which is half of the Spanish total. The figures are not updated, they are from 2021, since the sector has difficulties collecting information due to the disparity of businesses: small and large studios, startups that develop technology for third parties, publishing, marketing, portability or distribution companies... .
Without updated data for fiscal year 2023, it is difficult to take stock. Despite this, agents in the sector assure that Barcelona's ecosystem is in good health. “The industry has kept pace despite the drop in investment worldwide and the slowdown in growth after the pandemic boom,” says Joan Francesc Bañó, executive director of the Gamebcn business incubator, where the video game has emerged. Endling, awarded a Bafta award in 2023.
The Generalitat's forecasts point to a sustained increase in the turnover, going from the 660 million euros received in 2021 to 779 million in 2022 and 911 million in 2023. There are indications that corroborate the dynamism of the ecosystem in 2023. Several multinationals have landed in the city in recent months: the Finnish Rovio, which develops the Angry Birds game; the Chinese NetEase, the Saudi Sandsoft or the Swiss Funplus. The entry of the Asian giant Tencent into the shareholding of Novarama, a veteran studio in the city, has also been highlighted.
According to Fernández Lobo, Barcelona already stands out for games of all types of formats. The city has left behind its phase of specialization in mobile gaming. This is the business that two decades ago allowed it to enter the industry and differentiate itself from the Madrid ecosystem, historically focused on console and distribution. In this sense, Carrillo gives as an example Activision Blizzard's decision to install the Infinity Ward team to develop the Call of Duty console video game. In fact, the data from the White Paper, relating to 2021, point along the same lines: 75% of the games created in Catalonia are destined for the PC; 56% to mobile, and 50% to console. The solidity and transversality of the industry in Barcelona are also evident when comparing the turnover figure by territory. According to this report, Catalonia concentrates 52% of Spanish turnover; Madrid, 27%; Valencia, 6%, and Andalusia, also 6%.
The keys to the consolidation of the sector in Barcelona respond to a coordinated commitment between the public and private sectors that began in the early 2000s. Thanks to this, no one doubts that in Barcelona there is talent trained locally, but also "it is It is true that salaries compared to other European cities are more competitive,” admits Fernández Lobo. There is no official salary data, but according to some portals consulted, such as Glassdor or Pingle, a developer in Barcelona earns an average of 37,000 euros per year, compared to 60,000 in London, 80,000 in Helsinki or 90,000 in the United States.
Beyond salaries, the workforce has experienced a year of austerity (following the general trend of the technology sector), but so far it has not been noticeable in Spain. In fact, large multinationals have carried out massive workforce cuts, such as Epic Games (16% of jobs), Electronic Arts (6%), Ubisoft and the gaming divisions of Amazon and Microsoft.
“Investment in the technology sector has decreased in general and, in addition, the video game has suffered a drop in consumption after the boom of the pandemic that has not compensated for the avalanche of launches that were postponed due to the health crisis,” he comments. Bathroom. According to data from the Aevi employers' association for 2022, video game consumption in Spain stands at 7.42 hours per week, 8% less than the previous year.
On a global scale, this drop in consumption has already been noticeable in income, as reflected in the graph on the turnover of video game companies, which in 2022 registered a decrease of 3.5% after years of continuous growth . Bañó comments that this has reduced the profitability of publishing companies, which are the ones that invest in video game studios to launch new products. “The impact has been on a large scale, because hardly any new games have come out, but it has also been on a small scale. A couple of years ago a studio could easily get a million euros to launch its first game, while now the financing is around 400,000 euros,” comments the director of Gamebcn, who trusts that this conservative cycle will end. Sooner than later.
In addition to the difficulty of raising capital, developers lament the saturation of the market. “There are more and more initiatives and it is difficult to differentiate. That didn't happen ten years ago,” acknowledge Xavi and Marc Terri, founders of Alike Studio. Despite saturation, the sector considers that it has not yet reached maturity, especially in the mobile games division. “In developing countries, in Asia and Africa, there is a lot of room for growth,” says Bañó, who recalls that Barcelona has an advantage because it started developing content for this format twenty years ago.
