Gamelab 2013 – Barcelona Videogame International Conference kicks off with top speakers

Barcelona (ACN).- The 9^th edition of Barcelona’s Videogame and Interactive Entertainment International Conference, Gamelab, started on Wednesday in the Catalan capital and will run from the 26^th to the 28^th of June. This year the business fair and conference has moved to a smaller location – Catalonia’s Cinematheque, in the Raval neighbourhood. However, the number of participants remains the same and the expectations generated are probably bigger, since this year’s conference displays a top selection of “frontline speakers” at international level, according to the organisers. At the opening of the conference, the organisers emphasised that the event in Barcelona has gradually become “one of the world congresses with the greatest influence” within the videogame industry and an “international reference” point. Gamelab’s Creator, Gonzo Suárez underlined that they aim to consolidate the event in this top position at international level. The Catalan Culture Minister, Ferran Mascarell, and the Spanish Deputy Minister for Culture, José Maria Lasalle, were chairing the opening ceremony.

Gamelab 2013 opened its doors on Wednesday morning at Catalonia’s Cinematheque and very soon a line of videogame professionals formed to get accreditated. This year’s facility is smaller than that of the 2012 edition, which was near Fira de Barcelona’s Montjuic pavilions. However, the number of participants remains stable and some of the world’s main companies in the sector are present. In total, more than 200 companies are participating in the 2013 conference.  Furthermore, the fair is displaying a selection of 40 speakers, who include CEOs, Founders and experts from the some of the leading companies of the international videogame and interactive entertainment industry. These factors have turned this event in one of the not-to-be-missed professional get-togethers within this sector. “We must say it directly and frankly”, insisted the event’s Director, Iván Fernández Lobo. According to him, the conference has “a spectacular and unique line-up of speakers”. In addition, Fernández Lobo emphasised that the event is a great platform to project local companies internationally.

In fact, Gamelab’s founder was particularly optimistic about the role the videogame sector can play within the Spanish economy and its future. In front of the Spanish Deputy Minister for Culture, Suárez stated that “if one measure is to be taken in an economy with a deficit, this is to import money”. “If one industry can make it”, the Gamelab Founder added, “this is clearly the cultural industry and within it, the sector which can best match market demand is that of videogames”. For these reasons, Suárez proposed that the videogame sector become the reference point for other cultural industries, so “they can follow the path of living within a digital world, and they can make it through events such as Gamelab”, concluded Suárez.

The videogame sector is significantly growing

The Spanish Deputy Minister, José Maria Lasalle, refused to debate Suárez’s statements. Instead, he praised the Catalan Government for having made “an intelligent strategic prioritisation” by contributing to attract the Gamelab event to Barcelona. According to Lasalle, this event, combined with the Mobile World Congress and the companies based in Barcelona, “put the Catalan capital and the whole of the country into the avant-garde of digital entertainment”, as “a reference within the new digital and cultural economy”.

Lasalle offered some figures from the videogame industry at international and Spanish level. In a few years, videogames has become the cultural industry “with the greatest economic impact and cultural and social”. At world level, the videogame sector has a turnover of over €50 billion, with more than 1 billion players. In addition, the global turnover is increasing by 7% each year. In Spain, more than 240 companies work in this sector, which earn almost €3 billion. Furthermore, in Spain there are about 17 million videogame players.