6 takeaways from PGC Barcelona: A bustling industry hub, DTC hits overdrive, and AI hype continues
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Last week we hosted the Pocket Gamer Connects Barcelona, bringing the conference to Spain for the first time.
The show was a huge success, drawing more than 1,000 attendees from 47 countries, representing over 520 companies.
Speaking at the event were representatives from some of the world’s biggest mobile games publishers, including Scopely, King, FunPlus, Rovio, Bandai Namco, Homa, Tilting Point, and many more.
Now that the dust has settled after two days of insightful sessions and networking, I’ve listed some of my key takeaways from the show below.
For more information on the Barcelona games scene, you can download our free region report right here.
- A key mobile games industry hub
I already named the publishers above, but it’s worth repeating just how many of the world’s big games companies have set up shop in Barcelona and Spain at large.
The Catalonia capital is home to one of the country’s biggest local success stories in Socialpoint. The studio has worked on titles including Dragon City and Monster Legends, eventually attracting the overtures of Take-Two, which acquired the company for $250 million in 2017.
Candy Crush developer King has built up a significant presence in the city, employing hundreds of staff.
Meanwhile, it has become Monopoly Go developer Scopely’s largest games hub, employing more than 1,000 employeesin the country. The company has made key acquisitions in the region, including Omnidrone, GSN Games, and Genjoy.
Speaking to PocketGamer.biz, Scopely director of operations Néstor Pequeño said its presence has been encouraged by Scopely co-CEO Javier Ferreira, a native Spaniard.
The developer now runs a variety of functions including marketing, development support, analytics, business intelligence and more out of the country, making it an integral part of its global operations.
Then of course Bandai Namco, Sandsoft, FunPlus, Homa, Tilting Point and others have set up shop in the country.
It’ll be fascinating to see over the next few years what the output is of these big companies from the region and whether there will be new successful titles that emerge from the investments made.
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Direct-to-consumer
For each of the big events I’ve attended over the past 18 months or so, one of the top trends has been web shops and direct-to-consumer strategies. It’s a fast-moving space as the Digital Markets Act is picked away at the App Store’s policies, while Apple has fought back.
Ahead of PGC Barcelona, the landmark ruling from a US judge has cracked open the store for alternative payments in the country, leading to the return of Fortnite. The topic was naturally high on the agenda at the show – the subject of DTC was discussed extensively on the Powering Payments and Unlocking Webshops with Xsolla tracks.
The key players were all in town, with Xsolla and Appcharge both hosting parties.
Publishers are increasingly diving in with full force, with some concerns lingering over how long this might last given Apple’s history of changing the rules and its ongoing appeal. Though the judge in the Epic Games vs. Apple case and the European Commission are increasingly adamant: stop trying to circumvent the law and regulation.
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AI hype
DTC seemed like a bigger topic of conversation from my chats with developers, but AI was another key theme of the show.
We held the Practical AI track on day one, followed by AI Advances sessions on the second day.
One particularly fascinating session came from The AI Guys’ co-CEO and CTO Ken Noland, who discussed re-creating the original X-COM from scratch using AI tools. I’ve previously written about the talk here (and we’ll have a video in the coming weeks on the PocketGamer.biz YouTube channel). It was an eye-opening look at what’s possible right now, as well as what’s not possible.
Noland did away with the hype and gave an honest assessment of the best tools for the job. He previously said AI tech doesn’t even remotely live up to the hype as the tools still require an experienced engineer to use and steer. However, he was still able to build an engine in just three months with the assistance of such tech.
There were other practical examples of the use of AI in games too during the show, with UA expert Claire Rozain discussing utilising AI for ad creatives.
For more on how games companies are harnessing AI tech right now, check out this session from PGC San Francisco by Rovio senior art director Tatu Petersen-Jessen on how the Angry Birds developer has harnessed it for game art and marketing.
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How to get your game published in China in 2025
MyGamez CRO Thorbjorn Warin gave a step-by-step guide to getting your game published in China during his talk at PGC Barcelona.
Some of the rules are well known: all games require a government-issued ISBN, which are only given to Chinese companies – so publishers will need a local partner to release a game.
More general IT regulations mean that all data must be stored within China and cannot be accessed or exported outside of the country.
“You’ve got to think on your feet when you’re in China,” said Warin, when it comes to compliance with these rules.
Warin went through some of the content restrictions in place in the country that can prevent a game getting approval for release. Two examples include: games cannot have a character with a visible scar on their face, while they are also not allowed to have red eyes.
For developers making games like Candy Crush Saga and Royal Match, however, Warin said these are unlikely to come across notable issues.
Previously, developers looking to launch their game in China could face up to a two-year wait. Warin said, however, that time-to-market can now realistically be completed in nine to 12 months, with an ISBN approved in six.
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The web games revolution?
Web gaming was once a massive part of the industry. Then, thanks to Facebook’s shift away from browser games that caught even FarmVille developer Zynga off guard, as well as the death of Flash, a number of publishers shifted away from the space.
But now there’s a push to bring it back. CrazyGames partnership manager Rabia Dincer said that the company has 40 million MAUs for its web platform, with more than 300m monthly gameplays and 3,000+ developers on board. She also claimed much of its growing audience is based mostly in tier one countries.
Around 75% of players they see are on desktop, though the mobile web is “growing much faster now”. She also claimed Chinese developers, which already build games for the likes of WeChat Minigames, are expanding to Western web platforms.
I spoke with Crazy Games’ Rafael Morgan, Playgama’s Dmitry Kachmar and Pixel Federation’s Gustav Pastucha about the topic.
With publishers looking to generate greater revenue share away from walled gardens, I asked simply: is this something developers want more than consumers?
“The experience of browser games is getting as good as it is on mobile,” said Morgan.
“If the experience is as good and you don’t have to download anything, and you can actually play very easily with a friend, sharing a link and doing all this stuff, what’s the advantage of actually going to the store and downloading the app?”
It’s worth stating of course that downloading an app is generally a swift and easy process by design, creating as frictionless a process as possible. But the ease of shareability, availability across platforms and lack of reliance on device power from web-powered games could, in theory, eventually combine to help create mass market adoption – particularly if developers push for it.
But that adoption appears to still be waiting on factors including breaking current user habits, how to market these experiences, where to put them and actually growing audiences along with revenue across web gaming platforms.
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Tips for launching a games studio in 2025
Despite a tough investment environment during the last few years, new studios are still popping up in the games industry.
Maysalward CEO Nour Khrais hosted a panel on ‘How to launch a games studio in 2025 and beyond’, featuring The Breach Studios CEO Ferran Punti, Kokoon Games CEO and founder Henri Lindgren, and Super Banana Studios co-founder Nikolay Ternovoy.
They covered a number of practical topics, including where to get funding, general tips for running a startup, and the state of mobile for new studios.
Ternovoy said there are a number of potential options to secure funding from and which one to take depends on what a team is building, their vision, and the business case.
For his studio, Ternovoy went down the VC route as the team believes it’s building a framework, rather than just one game. However, for developers building one game, options can include angel investors and state programmes. In Catalonia, there are €150k funding initiatives available, “no questions asked”, he said.
Lindgren echoed the VC and angel investor options, as well as other grants and project funding routes. He recommended startups should consider angel investors who come with a similar background to what they are building.
Punti warned startup founders should be careful with their cap table, as too many shareholders could potentially cause problems if and when another larger investor comes in.
