The Swiss video game company FunPlus continues to bet on its Barcelona headquarters, where it plans to hire 120 workers to consolidate its staff. The company is immersed in an expansion process that will serve to convert the offices on Casp street into the only ones in Europe dedicated to the development and publication of casual mobile video games ---designed for short games, like puzzles---. Internationally, it has similar studios in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Irvine, and Tokyo.
The multinational landed in the Catalan capital in 2019 with only four workers and has gradually increased its team to the forty workers it currently has. Until now, at its Barcelona headquarters, the company had centralized its editorial management, specializing in marketing and creative services.
With the new plans, the Barcelona offices, recently remodeled and with an area of 450 square meters, will grow to 150 employees in the next four years. This 2022, they plan to incorporate between 20 and 30 workers already. "The creation of a development studio will allow us to take a step forward in our growth as a company and revolutionize the development of video games of this genre," says the head of the studio, Felipe Mata. In the company's decision, the weight and projection of the video game sector in Catalonia has been decisive, especially in terms of creating young and qualified employment.
To complete the team, FunPlus, which has the support of Acció for this expansion, will hire video game developers, specifically, designers, programmers, and artists. It will also look for other profiles that will be dedicated to the launches of new products created from this studio.
The company has managed to consolidate its market position with State of Survival, a strategy video game set in a zombie apocalypse. The game, free and available on iOS and Android, has already surpassed 150 million downloads worldwide. Other popular titles from the Swiss studio are King of Avalon and Guns of Glory. Globally, FunPlus has a team of more than 2,000 workers in 11 offices spread across China, Japan, the United States, Canada, and Switzerland.
With announcements like FunPlus', the video game sector is strengthened in Barcelona. The Swiss company joins other recent investments such as those of IO Interactive and Rovio. According to Acció data, in the last five years, 20 new projects from international video game studios have been attracted, with an investment exceeding 120 million euros and the creation of almost 900 jobs. With these figures, Catalonia has positioned itself as the first region in the European Union in attracting foreign investment for this sector, attracting 12.2% of the total.