Digital Legends seats Barcelona at the big table

Digital Legends Entertainment is a Catalan video game company, from Barcelona, ​​which has distinguished itself by the quality of its games, the rigor in its technology and excellence in its creativity and usability. Proof of this is that it was one of the first continental companies to receive the approval of major mobile phone companies to incorporate their games. First it was Nokia and then the demanding iOS, that is Apple, to place its game Kroll on an iPhone 3G that Steve Jobs himself presented. It is no joke to pass the filters of the rigorous Californian company. Later, the Barcelona company has also worked for another demanding giant, such as the Korean Samsung.

The Catalan company, led by Xavier Carrillo with the coverage of two investment funds, has specialized in mobile games beyond its own games such as Respawnables, Respawnables Heroes or After Pulse. It is a company of 50 workers, founded in 2000, which has developed a high technological level. Proof of this is its own game engine Karisma.

Activision Blizzard, the American company from Santa Monica, had been negotiating with Digital Legends for a year for its acquisition. It had long considered the Barcelona company to develop its own mobile games. And, to begin with, the order is big: the new version of Call of Duty Vanguard for mobile.

The Californian company bills 8,000 million dollars and is listed on the Nasdaq, it is one of the global majors and apart from games like Call of Duty it also has a catalog of hits like Guitar Hero, Skylanders, Pitfall or Crash Brandicoot, among others.

Up to here what we already knew, and perhaps this sale, as well as that of Social Point in the hands of Take Two, shows the financial weakness, among other problems, that Catalan video game companies, and technology companies, in general, drag to grow and be able to compete internationally. Surely it will not be the last either because another large acquisition is being brewed that will be announced shortly. This time it seems that the buyer is on the other side of the world, in China.

But if we look further, Activision's acquisition of Digital Legends is a great opportunity for Barcelona. Initially, the management team is maintained and there is a commitment to triple or quadruple Digital Legends' current workforce. Those from Santa Monica fully trust the team led by Xavier Carrillo. And incidentally, Activision brings us directly to Barcelona.

This acquisition generates centrality, as it definitively positions Barcelona as the stronghold of Southern Europe. Along with companies such as Digital Legends Entertainment itself, there are Social Point, Novorama, and multinationals such as King or Ubisoft, in addition to medium and small companies, exceeding a hundred. The qualified jobs that end up being created generate many opportunities, not only for the video game industry, but also for the technological and digital industry in general. In the end, transferable experiences are generated in other areas and professionals who make lateral moves from new emerging companies. These are great opportunities for professionals specialized in programming, 3D animation, modeling, audiovisual narrative, usability, music and sound for audiovisuals, etc. These are local professionals, generally young (the video game white paper details that almost half of the professionals in the sector are under thirty). But operations like this also end up attracting talent and that is positive, since it generates more opportunities for new projects and above all competitiveness.

Someone might argue that we have not been up to the task in the battle to attract the audiovisual industry and that Madrid has won the game, something I cannot share, because this will be long, fluctuating and changing, but in the case of video games we cannot say the same.

When ENTI-UB, the first university center for video game development degrees, was created in 2012, a commitment was already made to train professionals for this industry, but it was difficult to think that six Catalan universities would sign up. It seemed like an adventure doomed to failure. Today Barcelona, ​​and Catalonia by extension, have a broad training base, capable of nurturing the sector with professionals. And the sector has responded. And this is basically due to the fact that Barcelona already had a technological and artistic base prepared to host the sector.

It is, therefore, good news that Digital Legends Entertainment has decided to take the plunge and accept Activision's operation and sit at the big table. Barcelona has to think big and, given the conditions, Xavier Carrillo has decided to play in the big league. And with his bet, Barcelona wins.

This video game ecosystem that has been created in Barcelona and, by extension, in the rest of the country ---since little by little, companies are settling in Barcelona's hinterland---, needs a response from the Catalan institutions. For now, the Taula del videojoc, promoted by the Department of Business, has been functioning for some time. But more support is needed, and above all, to find fiscal avenues that equate it with the tax regime that only the audiovisual sector has achieved so far. Although we could spend a long time discussing why the Spanish administration leaves video games out of the regulations for audiovisuals, something that makes no sense. The only reason that seems feasible is that the Spanish administration, that is, the owner of the fiscal and tax regime, has bet on Madrid and video games are apparently a Barcelona thing.