From 1 July to 1 August, EUNEIZ University is hosting the campus with the five selected teams, who will receive training and personalised advice on developing and presenting their video game projects at Gamescom, the sector’s most important European trade fair. Two Basque teams, two Catalan teams and one from Zaragoza are taking part in the GAME.EUS video game accelerator campus run by the EUNEIZ Foundation at the university’s facilities. This fifth edition of the intensive programme is the culmination of four years of F2P Campus experience and has become a major contribution to the creation and retention of local talent and to the promotion of the video game sector in Alava and the Basque Country.
As a result of this new approach, GAME.EUS is expanding the platforms, the business model to be developed among the participants and emphasising their Basque origin. Two of the five teams, selected from the thirteen proposals submitted, are creators from the Basque Country – from Vitoria-Gasteiz and Bilbao – while the rest of the groups are from Catalonia and Zaragoza.
This initiative, promoted by the Provincial Government of Alava and the Basque Government, under the direction of the EUNEIZ Foundation, increases efforts to position the Basque Country as a centre for the generation of talent and the promotion of the video game industry with this new approach. The Deputy for Economic Development and Sustainability, Saray Zárate, the Deputy Regional Minister for Culture, Andoni Iturbe, the President of EUNEIZ University, Jordi Roche and the Executive Director of GAME.EUS, David Darnés, this morning welcomed the five teams participating in this year’s campus. The programme, coordinated by BIC Araba, is also sponsored by the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council and EUNEIZ University, where the campus is being held for the third consecutive year.
The Regional Councillor for Economic Development and Sustainability, Saray Zárate, said “this campus is a reflection of the strong commitment of the Alava Provincial Government to the video game sector, which is enjoying rapid growth and is very much in line with our values as a territory: innovation, talent and creativity”.
The Deputy Minister of Culture, Andoni Iturbe, added that the Basque Government is committed to promoting creative talent and generating new spaces of opportunity for personal, community and territorial development. He also highlighted the importance of the video game sector in the new modes of communication, mainly among the younger generation, noting that this was ‘an opportunity to work with high added value content that will help us to grow in terms of values. Finally, the Deputy Minister concluded by stressing the importance of cooperation and agreement between institutions with the aim of creating focal points and generators of new knowledge to place us at the forefront.
Jordi Roche, from EUNEIZ University, highlighted the commitment of the University of New Technologies, Sport and Health which, this year, through the EUNEIZ Foundation, has taken on the management of this intensive programme with the aim of “sharing knowledge and professional experience” in order to consolidate the video game ecosystem in the Basque Country. “This is an emerging sector that could have a significant future in this territory, as it has had in Catalonia, in terms of employment and economic growth”. Likewise, the President of EUNEIZ underlined the “opportunity” provided by this campus to give a “qualitative leap” to teams that have the creative tools and knowledge, but “need that extra professionalisation to develop successfully in this sector”. In this context, he recalled that the University also contributes to the creation of talent with two degrees in video games – Degree in Video Game Art and Degree in Video Game Design and Development – opening the door to artist, designer and video game programmer profiles. “We want to be a launching pad for future industry professionals while nurturing existing ones. This campus is the perfect way to link training with the labour market and entrepreneurship and to do so with the best guarantees”, he concluded.
It should be remembered that the video game sector has considerably more favourable growth forecasts than other cultural and creative industries, given that – according to the 2022 White Paper on Spanish Video Game Development – it is expected to have a turnover of 1,897 million euros this year and that this figure will increase to 2,239 million euros in 2025. In terms of employment, the sector is expected to generate 1,098 direct jobs in Spain this year. In the case of the Basque Country, it should be noted that, of the 760 video game studios existing in Spain in 2022, only 4% are located in the BAC.
As David Darnés explained, the main objective of this programme is to prepare teams of developers from the Basque Country with a sufficiently advanced video game to take part in Gamescom, the largest and most important trade fair in the sector in Europe. In contrast to the F2P Campus, which revolved exclusively around the creation of video games where it is not necessary to pay to play, GAME.EUS is open to any platform and business model (mobile, PC/Console, Free-to-Play, Premium…), expanding the opportunities for teams and getting closer to the real workings of the video game sector.
This campus grew out of the need to support small indie developer teams as a strategy to bolster the videogame industry. The aim is therefore to promote the professionalisation of these small teams so that they can obtain more funding, grow and generate employment. Through training and mentoring, teams will be infused with a business mindset, focusing on aspects such as how to draw up a Business Plan, improve their communication skills or implement marketing or sales strategies. During the campus, meetings will also be organised with publishers to negotiate publishing and investment agreements, so that they can legally establish their companies and contribute to the development of the sector.
Among the mentors, experts with extensive experience in the videogame industry and with participation in international projects, are professionals such as Oscar Sahun, entrepreneur, videogame designer and producer, Gerard Fernández, entrepreneur, investor and videogame developer, Ignacio Marín, producer and Game Manager at Gameloft, Arturo Monedero, vice president of AEVI (Spanish Association of Videogames), professor at EUNEIZ, entrepreneur and videogame designer, Sandra Samper, academic director of the EUNEIZ videogame degrees and expert in business development and videogames, Sergi Manaut, elevator pitch and public speaking coach, Antonio Santo, founder of Jaleo PR and content director of the BIG Conference, and finally, David Darnés, director of this campus, entrepreneur, consultant and mentor in videogames and technology. In addition to mentoring, these experts will offer ‘mixers’ open to the public in order to introduce and promote this sector in society.
After five weeks of work, GAME.EUS will end on 1 August with Demo Day, where the five teams will present their projects to publishers, investors and industry professionals. It will be the stepping stone to Gamescom, one of the world’s most influential trade fairs, which will give them the opportunity to showcase their work, make key contacts and explore new opportunities for collaboration and growth.
The names of the teams and the genre to which the projects participating in this fifth edition belong are as follows:
Dhelpra Games (Barcelona): Nomad Defender is a video game where you wake up in a gloomy room in which you are imprisoned. Only by defeating an enigmatic tower defence, roguelike, deckbuilder can you unravel the secrets that lie in the shadows of this facility.
Can Pixel (Barcelona): They present Catcelona, a videogame about finding 300 very real hidden cats. A 2D black and white experience that promises tranquillity and fun in equal measure!
Gaua Games (Bilbao): Darby Is Here Forever is a 2D pixel art platformer about a cute vampire.
Sidral Games (Zaragoza): Enchufao is a 2D space shooter arcade game with pixel art aesthetics, roguelike elements and wire-based resource management.
Ametz Games (Vitoria-Gasteiz): Detective Firefly is a detective videogame, with narrative puzzles that take you on an interactive adventure where you decide the ending.