The rise of gaming industry in Spain

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Since the rapid modernization of computing machines, games have become a relevant sphere of many peoples’ lives. At first, there were only a few countries presenting real centres for this type of industry, however since then, many chose to enhance this industry further. Spain is among these countries.

Since 2017, Spain has been placed in the top ten world leaders in the gaming industry. On EU level, Spain has been granted a place in the top three, alongside France and Germany.

Following this trend, Spain made huge revenue turnover over the years. Biggest jump in turnover was made between 2018 and 2019, when the gaming industry started blooming in this country. 

Today, the number of people employed in this sector in Spain is 8700. In order to further boost the development of gaming industry, the government approved Spanish Video Game Association. This organization provides substantial benefits for all companies interested in investing in this industry. Research done by SVGA predicts continuous growth of this sector during upcoming years.

Since greater investments were made in the year 2016 and early 2017, Spain was placed 9th in the global ranking for countries competing in gaming industry. This has also greatly benefited Spain, as it was a huge inspiration for further development of the sector.

The success of this industry was also followed by changes in the educational system. Many courses were implemented, since the biggest problem was under-qualified staff for this branch. This nuisance changed since then, with many young talents arriving in the last couple of years.

Today, the most important region regarding gaming industry is Catalonia, especially the city of Barcelona. In the last couple of years, Barcelona has made itself a symbol for this industry, both on national and international level.

Social Point, company which is now sold to the US company Take-Two, is one of pioneers in the sector. This startup, alongside the presence of various big and internationally important cooperations, made Spain and Catalonia region one of the most prominent places on the gaming industry map. Large companies and development studios, such as Ubisoft, Gameloft and Riot Games also located their headquarters in Spain. (photo credit: Florian Olivo/Unsplash)