How Barcelona become Scopely’s biggest video games hub

Pocket Gamer Connects heads to Barcelona subsequent month on June third to 4th.

Within the construct as much as the development, we’ve got been attaining out to audio system and native corporations to get their perspectives at the Barcelona video games hub and wider Spanish sector.

We stuck up with Scopely director of operations Néstor Pequeño concerning the Monopoly Cross developer’s vital presence within the nation, the place it employs greater than 1,000 personnel.

PocketGamer.biz: How would you assess Spain and Barcelona’s video games scene in this day and age?

Néstor Pequeño: Since Scopely arrived in Spain, in particular in Barcelona in 2017 (due to the encouragement of Scopely co-CEO and local Spaniard, Javier Ferreira), we’ve witnessed and proudly been a very powerful a part of a outstanding enlargement within the video video games trade around the nation. 

This has been very true in cellular gaming, the place the Barcelona area has skilled sturdy momentum.

We opened our place of business right here in Barcelona with simply 5 staff and these days we now have over 1,000 staff contributors throughout Spain, with greater than 75% based totally in Barcelona and the wider Catalonia area. 

Barcelona is now our biggest hub on this planet with a multidisciplinary staff that develops, designs, markets, and helps video games. One of the crucial key causes Barcelona has grown into our biggest location is its skill to draw most sensible pros from all over the world.

It’s a town and an trade the place many nationalities come in combination, fostering creativity, innovation, and variety. Town has an power this is arduous to compare, and makes folks wish to keep, develop and prevail.

We actually have a colourful place of business in Sevilla and far flung staff throughout Spain. We’ve been ready to develop so abruptly within the area, now not simply organically by way of recruiting, but additionally thru strategic investments and acquisitions of recreation studios around the nation.

Scopely received Omnidrone video games studio in Barcelona in 2022, GSN Video games, which had an place of business in Barcelona, in 2021, and Genjoy recreation studio in Sevilla in 2020. Now, seven years after first planting roots in Spain, we are actually the biggest video games corporate by means of each headcount and income within the nation.

What alternatives do you notice in Spain and Barcelona’s video games trade?

We see a variety of thrilling alternatives for the video video games trade in Spain and extra exactly in Barcelona. As the worldwide marketplace continues to develop, Barcelona has already established itself as a hub with deep experience in cellular recreation construction.

That mentioned, a lot of this popularity continues to be in large part related to cellular gaming, whilst the console and PC area stays much less evolved by means of comparability.

On the other hand, with the trade transferring an increasing number of towards cross-platform studies, the place gameplay is predicted to be seamless without reference to the software, this pattern items a chance for each Spain and Barcelona to extend their ability pool and functions in those spaces.

At Scopely, we’ve already taken some essential steps on this path. Stumble Guys, which firstly introduced as a mobile-first recreation, advanced ultimate yr right into a complete cross-platform revel in, to be had on PC and console.

We imagine this can be a sturdy instance of the type of alternative that exists right here, now not simply to develop, however to be a part of the wave of cross-platform gaming studies.

And what demanding situations do you notice?

The Spanish video games trade is very fragmented, with a lot of small studios. Round two thirds of recreation studios in Spain have fewer than 10 staff.

Whilst this indie spirit brings creativity and innovation, it additionally way that only a few corporations achieve the dimensions required to compete on a world stage.

The restricted get admission to to sources for almost all of those small studios makes it tough for them to develop past the indie degree.

Why do you suppose that Barcelona is this type of giant video games hub in Spain?

The good fortune of Barcelona has been ready to draw a essential mass of video video games studios, tech corporations and professional pros.

It’s house to Scopely, the biggest gaming corporate in Spain, but additionally is house to different main gamers like Socialpoint (Zynga), King, Gameloft, Ubisoft, Revolt, amongst many others. This focus has constructed a powerful basis for the trade that pulls and keeps a huge pool of skilled ability.

Moreover, Barcelona gives a high quality of lifestyles and price benefit in comparison to different global places.

The interesting way of life makes it more straightforward to draw and retain ingenious pros, continuously at a lower price of residing, and decrease working prices for firms than in different Ecu towns.

What’s your outlook for the sphere? If we discuss once more in 5 years, the place do you hope Spain and Barcelona’s video games marketplace to be?

Globally, the video video games marketplace is predicted to proceed rising frequently, with cellular gaming main the expansion, pushed by means of new applied sciences, increasing communities, evolving participant behavior, and an increasing number of polished gaming studies.

This certain world pattern can simplest get advantages towns like Barcelona, which already has a powerful basis of ability and trade presence, together with organisations like The Spanish Video Sport Affiliation (AEVI), Desarrollo Español de Videojuegos (DEV), and the Catalonian DeviCAT. 

What extra do you wish to have for the Spanish and Barcelona video games scene?

One of the crucial demanding situations our ability acquisition groups continuously face is a ability hole in some key spaces. Addressing this calls for each long run answers and brief time period methods.

At the long-term facet, we’re excited once we see universities and coaching centres aligning their curricula with the evolving wishes of the trade, for example, providing extra specialized lessons in recreation programming, manufacturing, technical artwork or knowledge analytics.

The problem is that the trade evolves a lot sooner than maximum educational programmes do. Shortening the variation cycles between tutorial content material and actual trade calls for would assist foster extra native and younger ability, higher ready to satisfy the desires of the studios.

Within the non permanent, bringing trade pros nearer to schooling may make an actual distinction. Some programmes are already doing this, however increasing alternatives for pros to show, mentor, or give visitor lectures may assist bridge the space extra successfully.

Who do you notice as the important thing gamers within the Barcelona video games scene?

In terms of figuring out the important thing gamers in Barcelona, we see Scopely as a number one drive in cellular gaming, now not simply within the town, however throughout Spain.

Our studio is the biggest within the nation, and proper this is the place we broaden one of the vital international’s maximum a success cellular video games according to each authentic and cherished IPs like Monopoly, Big name Trek,and extra.

We also are proud to have our core generation platform, Playgami, evolved and based totally in Barcelona, handing over distinctive products and services that energy all our video games globally. On most sensible of that, our inhouse ingenious advertising and company staff produces remarkable visible content material that is helping us connect to gamers all over the world.

That mentioned, we’re very aware that we’re a part of a much wider and extremely proficient ecosystem.

 The presence of alternative international elegance corporations like King, Zynga, Ubisoft, Virtual Legends, and Revolt now not simplest raises the bar, but additionally conjures up us to stay pushing ahead.

We really feel lucky to develop and collaborate inside of this type of aggressive atmosphere.