The world of video games has become extremely popular in recent years. Although the products are becoming more and more spectacular, the costs have also grown. However, this has led to an increase in the number of jobs in the sector. In this sense, catalan video game companies are the most powerful in the country and enjoy an ironclad economic health.
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One of the keys to understanding the growth of the gaming world is the eSports. To understand, in turn, the success of this trend, we must go back to the early 2000s. At that time, the first eSports leagues were established in South Korea. From that moment on, the world of video games was to undergo a change that would condition its very existence.
The growth of Catalan video game companies
According to Dani Marco, director of SmartCatalonia, We are immersed in a digital revolution and we should all be able to enjoy this technology both personally and professionally. Marco, whose project is part of the Secretariat of Telecommunications, Cybersecurity and Digital Society of the Generalitat de Catalunya, assures that Catalan video game companies are experiencing a boom.
Taking into account the above, the video game industry in Catalonia has 130 companies, representing 40% of the sector in Spain. Among these companies we find Digital Legends, who participated in the launch of the Apple Store. We also have Novorama, the developer of Sony's Invisimals. Without going any further, Take-Two, the North American giant, publisher of the GTA saga, purchased Social Point, also Catalan, 230 million euros after 9 years on the market.
In total, Catalan video game companies have moved in 8 years 1,000 million dollars and have made more than 650 million users play. However, it is expected that in 2019 alone these companies will reach 600 million euros in turnover.
Training to enter the world of video games
The gaming sector has seen its labor demand grow to the point where it has become a trend. To fill the vacancies in these companies, the training offer is also growing. Currently there are 7 bachelor's degrees, one postgraduate degree and 4 master's degrees to generate technological and creative talent. The range of training options is wide but not available to everyone due to the high fees.
The Generalitat de Catalunya supports this sector through the Institut Català d'Empreses Culturals. This body makes various financial instruments available to Catalan video game companies: participative loans for the production of video games, subsidies for internationalization, translation into Catalan, etc.
In the Catalan capital, for example, we find the incubator Game Bcn, which promotes projects coming out of the university. But this is not all that we find in the city of Barcelona, as it is home to major events in the world. For example, the Game Lab or the Barcelona Game World are two of the most important events in the country related to this sector.
Video games in Spain
The consumption of video games affects the economy of Spain as a whole. According to the Spanish Association of Video Games (AEVI), video games are the most popular leisure activity in the country. The industry represents 9.6% of the audiovisual production sector, 3.2% of the telecommunications sector and 3.8% of the programming and data processing sector. In addition, Spaniards are the third largest consumers of video games in Europe, The average weekly investment is about 6.2 hours.
But not everything is limited to leisure, since in Spain there are already more than 8,500 professionals dedicated to the sector. If we look at the figures (more than 1.1 billion euros were invoiced last year), we can see that this sector is offering both products and services and jobs.
eSports and the future of gaming
The eSports or electronic sports Competitive games are the current trend in the world of video games. In this sense, leagues are being generated with millions of fans and large audiences that generate enormous expectation. In fact, the Professional Video Game League was born out of a Catalan company, Fandroid, and today has 17 million unique users.
The popularity of eSports is such that the Olympic committee is considering making it an Olympic sport. In fact, the Olympic Council of Asia has agreed that at the Jakarta 2018 Olympic Games, eSports will be a discipline.
After all of the above, it is clear that this industry is growing and offers great opportunities. Although a few years ago it was a niche market that was not taken very seriously, today it is a powerful industry that provides shelter to great professionals.