Barcelona stands out in the video game ecosystem, and now takes another step in this direction: the Catalan capital will host for the first time the international event Pocket Gamer Connects, which will bring together a thousand professionals from the sector on June 3 and 4.
The event arrives in the Catalan capital attracted through Barcelona&Partners, Barcelona Global's investment attraction agency. The entity has led the process of attracting the event over other possible candidate cities, and has facilitated its landing in the Catalan capital.
The event, organized by Steel Media, has a ten-year trajectory and has been held so far in multiple cities, such as London, San Francisco, Helsinki, and Shanghai. Since its launch a decade ago, the event has consolidated itself as a benchmark event in the world of mobile video games.
In this edition in the Catalan capital, which will be held at the Hyatt Regency Barcelona Tower, it will focus on the latest trends in the sector, and on aspects such as monetization, digital marketing, and emerging technologies. Thus, the event aims to bring together a wide range of industry professionals, ranging from developers and publishers to investors and marketing experts.
The first-time celebration of the event in Barcelona reinforces the city's positioning in the video game industry. In fact, the city and its metropolitan area "host 40% of the world's video game companies, which places the region first in the EU in attracting foreign investment in that sector," according to the director of Barcelona&Partners, Montse Puig.
"Now, the celebration of Pocket Gamer Connects reinforces that positioning and leadership of the city as a global hub for the gaming industry," Puig remarked, in a context in which Barcelona has led the mobile video game sector in recent years, according to Steel Media CEO, Chris James.
Barcelona has "everything necessary for a real boom" in the video game sectorCompanies such as Scopely, Rovio, Bandai Namco, King, Tilting Point, and Triple Dot have activity in Barcelona, where their own studios such as Social Point also operate, and universities and business schools that contribute talent to the sector, according to James:"We have everything necessary for an authentic boom" in Barcelona.
In this sense, the opportunity is not minor: according to the State of Gaming report, prepared by the Japanese group Dentsu, the global video game ecosystem has consolidated itself as the most powerful entertainment sector, with a market size three times greater than the sum of the film and music industries, in which Barcelona wants to earn its role.