Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona arrived like a rocket ship with a truly unforgettable debut
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Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona 2025 made a triumphant debut this week, firmly establishing itself as a must-attend conference for the global games industry.
Drawing over 1,000 attendees from 47 countries (across five continents) and representing more than 520 companies, the two-day event transformed the magnificent Catalan capital into a vibrant epicentre of positive games industry networking, conference talks, and business meets.
With its dynamic blend of industry leaders, indies, monetisation and UA experts, tool-makers, platforms, developers, publishers, and others from across the global ecosystem, PG Connects Barcelona 2025 perfectly embodied the ‘games industry family feel’ the PGC conferences are renowned for.
The impressive global reach highlighted the ability to unite a diverse community of international professionals and stakeholders with a strong regional ecosystem – with 51% of attendees from Spain. The fact that around 30% were based in and around Barcelona showcased the city’s prominence as a rapidly emerging, major games industry hub.
“As much as I love all our conferences and the wider games industry, PGC Barcelona has been a real passion project for me, and something I’ve wanted to launch for many years,” said Steel Media CEO and founder Chris James.
“Although I live in London most of the year and feel like an honorary Finn when travelling to Helsinki, Barcelona is very much my second home – my wife was born here, we come every year to stay in Catalonia and travel across Spain as a family, and I am a huge advocate for the lifestyle, culture, and incredible people of the region.
“On a more specific games front, I’ve seen the ecosystem develop impressively for many years, in Barcelona especially, and I wanted to do something genuinely meaningful to help this growth – and I don’t think the incredible Steel Media team have let anyone down!
“I had high hopes and big ambitions for the event, but I was honestly blown away by the support, engagement, and vibrant energy on show across two packed days (and nights!). Whilst there’s still a little way to go to challenge our titanic PGC London and Helsinki shows, this was our biggest launch event ever and the response we’ve received at the conference and after has been frankly overwhelming.
“Of course, these things don’t happen on their own, so I need to say a huge thank you to all the sponsors and speakers who backed this first event, as well as the regional groups and associations who worked to support us – especially, I’d like to shout out Barcelona & Partners, DeviCat, Indie Dev Days, GameBCN, and Marisol Lopez from the Generalitat de Catalunya.
“Naturally, not everyone got involved in this first year, so I look forward to welcoming even more companies, associations and others into the fold in order to make this celebration of Iberian gaming excellence even bigger and better when we return in 2026!”
A powerhouse of decision-makers and cutting-edge insights
PG Connects Barcelona 2025 assembled an influential and diverse crowd from the global games sector. Attendees ranged the full industry spectrum, with 26% C-level representation, 62% identified as senior management decision-makers, whilst 72% constituted game makers, reflecting the event’s focus on promoting connections that get deals done.
Crucially, these representatives covered every conceivable gaming platform also. Whilst 73% of the audience were engaged in mobile games, over half (56%) were working in PC and a third (35%) in console, as well as 17% in instant/social games, 14% in XR, 12% cloud-based streaming, and 10% in the web3/blockchain space.
This high-level participation was complemented by a rich lineup of over 110 expert speakers delivering more than 22 hours of packed content. Topics spanned game development, business strategies, marketing, and emerging technologies, offering invaluable practical insights and inspiration for professionals at every stage of their careers.
Networking thrived through both structured and spontaneous interactions, with over 1,600 meetings facilitated via the MeetToMatch platform, as well as countless organic conversations happening across the event space, both inside and out (in the glorious sunshine), in addition to the numerous fringe events and evening networking activities.
Big Indie Zone steals the show
A standout success was the Big Indie Zone, which buzzed with energy and innovation. The 37 tables – the largest such space at any Pocket Gamer Connects conference to date – provided a dynamic platform for independent developers to connect with industry stakeholders and showcase the diverse creativity and unique approaches through a broad spectrum of games on display.
Adding to the proceedings, the Big Indie Zone Audience Choice Award enabled attendees to vote for their favourite indie game of the conference. After two days of enthusiastic participation, Somni Game Studios emerged as the audience favourite.
Meanwhile, through the popular Very Big Indie Pitch competition, selected talented indie developers were given prime opportunity to present their innovative projects to a panel of seasoned industry veterans.
This year’s competition attracted an impressive array of pitches spanning console, PC, and mobile platforms. From 80 submissions, 20 standout entries for each category were shortlisted, making it one of the most competitive editions on record.
After careful deliberation, the judges selected their top choices:
Very Big Indie Pitch – Mobile Edition:
- Crown Quest by Dasi Games
- Peach Farmer by Tarokai
- Dadum The Dice by Pablo Picazo
Very Big Indie Pitch – PC & Console Edition:
- The Midnight Barber by Omaet Games
- Hexplorando by Video Games Without Borders
- Roombattle by Dust Games
Accelerating deals and connections: Investor Connector and Publisher SpeedMatch
The conference embodied the PGC series’ dedicated focus on fostering meaningful business interactions, notably via the Investor Connector and Publisher SpeedMatch fringe events which saw development studio submission – and participation – rates second only to our flagship London conference.
Investor Connector provided a crucial platform for developers, from emerging startups to established studios, to meet directly with potential investors who selected them specifically.
Through 28 curated, face-to-face meetings, participants had the opportunity to present their projects to firms actively seeking new investment opportunities within a format that encourages deeper conversations, moving beyond simple introductions to detailed discussions about potential partnerships and funding.
Complementing the above session, Publisher SpeedMatch offered developers connections with publishers via a dynamic, speed-dating-style format which saw 84 introductory meetings packed into a one-hour slot.
This fast-paced environment enabled developers to present projects directly to key decision-makers, highlighting unique features, target audiences, and market potential. Publishers, in turn, were introduced to a diverse selection of promising titles, streamlining their search for the next big success.
Next Up: Pocket Gamer Connects Summit Shanghai (July 30th, 2025)
Pocket Gamer Connects is set to continue its global momentum with another new addition to the series through the upcoming PG Connects Summit Shanghai 2025 on July 30th.
Designed to connect western games industry professionals with the world’s biggest – though often unfamiliar – games market, it promises to unite over 500 high-level attendees through activity focused on fostering business opportunities, alongside a conference programme featuring 50+ expert speakers for essential additional insight into China’s dynamic $45 billion games sector.
The summit covers Mobile, PC, Console, AI, HTML5, XR and more, all set against a Shanghai backdrop – widely recognised as Asia’s tech hub – and taking place during ChinaJoy week, the continent’s largest gaming and digital entertainment exhibition.
PG Connects Summit Shanghai will be followed by our return to Nordic climes for the 12th edition of PG Connects Helsinki on October 7th to 8th, the central component of Finnish Games Week.
About Pocket Gamer Connects
Steel Media has been running PG Connects conferences since 2014. Over the last 12 years, the B2B networking and knowledge-sharing series has welcomed over 58,000 attendees (live or digital) from more than 70 countries, hosted 51 conferences across 10 nations, facilitated over 115,000 business meetings and, as such, had some impact on or initiated over $1.5bn in deals.
As the leading international conference series for the global games industry, Pocket Gamer Connects focuses on bringing together professionals from across the entire ecosystem with all the key formats covered from mobile, PC and console to XR, blockchain, AI and web3 technology. All while having fun and fostering a real “games industry family” feel.
About Steel Media
Steel Media is a leading games industry media and events company, delivering essential B2B news and events through PocketGamer.biz and the PGC conference series since 2014, as well as the thriving consumer brand PocketGamer.com. Since 2019, Steel Media has been part of the Enthusiast Gaming group, a top 10 Comscore gaming community supporting over 20 websites and over 250 YouTube channels.
