10th Games & Interactive Entertainment Conference
Filmoteca de Catalunya, Barcelona · June 25th-27th 2014
Jun 6th
Jun 5th
Jun 3rd
May 30th
Peter Molyneux, will return to Gamelab hand in hand with his new studio 22 Cans as one of the star presenters at this year’s 10th annual Gamelab. Guru and pioneer in his work, Molyneux’s career path has had an enormous impact. He has revolutionized the concept of the game, constantly stretching the limits of interactivity. Populous, Black & White, Theme Park and Fable are some of his most successful and most highly recognized works by critics and fans. In November 2012, Molyneux surprised the world with the launch of a videogame for mobile devices called Curiosity: What’s Inside the Cube, a social experiment developed by 22 Cans for iOS and Android devices, in which multiple players have to destroy a cube that, in turn, is made up of millions of other cubes. After more than 150 days, 4 million downloads and 25 billion cubes destroyed, a winner emerged in May 2013. The winner was granted the opportunity to be the digital god of Godus, another videogame developed by 22 Cans, with the right to make the rules governing the videogame world and a small percentage of the revenue made each time someone downloads Godus. Godus will be a reinvention of Populous’ game style with innovative details. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign in which 22 Cans surpassed its fundraising goal, the game is scheduled to be launched this year.
May 28th
Inafune is back in the headlines after the spectacular success of his Mighty No. 9 crowdfunding campaign
The historical Japanese producer, illustrator and creator is back in the headlines after the spectacular success of his Mighty No. 9 crowdfunding campaign
A key figure in the history of videogames, Keiji Inafune is an emblem of videogame maker Capcom, where he helped develop Mega Man and which he left in 2010 to found his own business venture, Comcept. At Capcom, Inafune was co-producer of some installments of the Resident Evil saga (Resident Evil: Director’s Cut, Resident Evil 2 and Biohazard 4D-Executer) and developed the samurai-themed series Ominusha, one of the company’s most successful series.
At Capcom in 2006, he also created the game Dead Rising, a zombie story that received great support from fans and critics. Dead Rising led to two sequels (Dead Rising 2 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, and Dead Rising 3 exclusively for Xbox One), a remake for the Nintendo Wii console and a spinoff for mobile telephones.
Inafune, himself, directed the cinematic adaptation of Dead Rising: The Movie. Shortly after being named global head of production, Inafune announced in October of 2010 that after 23 years at Capcom he was leaving to start a new company, Comcept USA, today responsible for games like Soul & Sacrifice, Guild02, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z and Boiling OSSAN Eggs (this last game for smart devices). Comcept is also developing Kaio and Mighty No. 9, inspired by the concept of Mega Man.
Inafune started a crowdfunding campaign to help finance Mighty No. 9. Inafune sought $900,000 from collaborators, but donations topped more than $4 million. Following the success of the crowdfunding campaign, Inafune stated that prior to that he hadn’t been aware of the enormous influence Mega Man had had on fans. In March of 2014, he announced the release of Azure Striker Gunvolt for the Nintendo 3DS.
May 26th
Nominees have been announced for the 7th annual awards ceremony of the Spanish Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. Ninety-two games for various platforms (PC/download, consoles, handheld devices, smart devices and browsers/social networks) have been nominated, with a big showing of games for smart devices.
The Spanish Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Awards, or “Pulga Awards” (in honor of Bugaboo (The Flea), considered the first Spanish videogame) were first presented in 2008 to recognize the best businesses and professionals in the domestic videogame sector. The Academy, in collaboration with Gamelab, celebrates the quality of the Spanish industry by presenting these awards to the best professionals in each technical and creative specialization, in addition to a special award for each platform. Since today, professionals and amateur videogames fans can choose the best of them in this page.
May 21st
The 29-year-old creator burst onto the scene when his game Flappy Bird became the most downloaded app in the world last year. Dong Nguyen pulled the game from app stores due to its highly addictive nature.
Founder of development studio .Gears, Dong Nguyen is, at 29 years of age, an internationally recognizable figure thanks to the success of his game for smart devices Flappy Bird, an application that reached number 1 in downloads in January of 2014 for iPhone and GooglePlay and which has reached top spots in download rankings in more than 100 countries. While it was active, Flappy Bird generated $50,000 dollars a day in in-app advertising.
An arcade game adapted to smartphones, Flappy Bird was created by Nguyen with the idea that people want to play something easy and quick. Taking as reference his own attitude on public transport, with one hand holding the device and the other holding a handle, Nguyen decided to create a game that only requires the player to touch the screen. In it, the player moves laterally while controlling a bird that tries to fly between rows of green tubes without touching them, with graphics drawing on the aesthetic of two-dimensional games. The bird flaps its wings each time the player taps the screen. If the player doesn’t tap the screen, the bird falls. The player earns a point for each set of tubes he/she passes.
The simplicity of the idea and, at the same time, the difficulty required to master it made it one of the most popular games for smart devices, all the while players made clear on social networks the addiction it was causing. That’s why, in February of this year, Nguyen sent a tweet saying that he was removing the game from app stores within 22 hours. In that time, Flappy Bird reached 10 million downloads, and when the time was up, it was removed, even though Nguyen has stated that he will bring it back in August, with multiplayer features meant to avoid user addiction. Its removal provoked a surge in hundreds of apps imitating Flappy Bird’s technique and mode of play. Until now, its creator has shied away from the press and fans, giving limited interviews to media companies such as Forbes, Rolling Stone or CNBC, despite being one of the most in-demand creators of the moment.
Influenced by big-pixel retro games, at .GEARS Nguyen advocates for simplicity and purity of form, always maintaining complexity and interest in the game. Following these rules, Nguyen has also created Shuriken Block and Super Ball Juggling, which are among the most downloaded apps for smart devices. Moreover, he’s developing a western-style shooter game and just launched a vertical flyer game called Kitty Jetpack and an action chess game called Checkonaut.
Gamelab Barcelona 2014 (June 25-27) is supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, the Generalitat of Catalonia through the Catalonian Institute of Cultural Enterprises, the Department of Business and Labor and ACC1Ó. Sponsors include FICOD, Innogames, Microsoft, Gameduell and Amazon. Collaborating in the event are the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, the Catalan Film Library, the City of Barcelona, the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the European Games Conference Alliance (EGCA) and Native Prime. Official media includes GamesIndustry.biz, Gamereactor and MediaXP.
Registration for Gamelab Barcelona is open at a fee of €120 for professionals and €80 for students. Those persons buying tickets can receive special discounts by inviting their contacts (http://www.gamelab.es/2014/attend/registration/)
May 14th
May 14th
May 14th
May 14th
May 14th
May 14th
Top business leaders and executives in the sector of smart-platform videogames will meet once again at Gamelab Barcelona. Some big names that have already been confirmed include the founder and CEO of Japanese game maker Gumi, Hironao Kunimitsu; the founder of Finnish startup Grand Cru (Supernauts), Markus Pasula; the Director of Monetization Platforms for Xbox at Microsoft, Sean Alexander; the Head of Content & Channel Business Development at Sony Mobile Communications, Robert Schoeppe; and Director of Ecosystems at ARM, Nizar Romdhane.
Representing the Spanish sector will be some of the most prestigious international business leaders, including, but not limited to, Xavier Carrillo, Managing Director and founder of Digital Legends (Kroll, The Respawnables); Manel Sort, Studio Director at King in Barcelona (Papa Pear Saga); Alexis Bonte, CEO and co-founder of eRepublik Labs (eRepublik.com and Tactical Heroes); and Gerard Fernandez, founder and CEO of Omnidrome (with recent million-dollar investment from three European venture capital funds: London Venture Partners, Nokia Growth and Kibo Ventures).
Apr 24th
Alex Rigopulos, founder and CEO of Harmonix Music Systems, will be the star speaker presented by FICOD (International Forum on Digital Content) at the tenth annual Gamelab Barcelona, which will be held June 25-27 at the Catalan Film Library. Rigopulos, globally recognized as the mastermind of music videogames and listed by Time Magazine in 2008 as one of the top 100 most influential people in the world, will speak about his professional career and the future of interaction between music and games, a specialty in which his company Harmonix has been a world leader since its inception in 1995.
The conference presentation by Alex Rigopulos, which will be held this coming 26th of June at 13 h., will be sponsored by César Miralles, managing director of Red.es, a promotional agency of FICOD (International Forum on Digital Content), which will once again become a meeting point for businesses, professionals, entrepreneurs, investors and students in the digital content sector this December 2, 3 and 4.
Apr 10th
The founder and CEO of Unity Technologies David Helgason will attend the tenth edition of GameLab Barcelona to discuss how the advances in development platforms will influence the future growth of the games sector.
In 2004, after an unfortunate experience with a game called 'Gooball', David Helgason and Nicholas Francis Joachim Ante decided to create 'Unity', a technology platform that would allow game developers to create games easier, faster and cheaper than ever before. His vision was to democratize game development by providing developers with tools that allow them to focus more on the creative side and to give them greater ability to raise and connect their business.
With this approach and the rise of new hardware devices, especially in the mobile sector, hundreds of thousands of independent developers began to bet on his platform to develop their games. In 2009 the popularity among developers was so high that Helgason decided to offer it for free. At present the number of developers using Unity to create their games and applications are already millions.
The "Unity" tool has given a boost to independent developers enabling them to achieve a higher quality on their productions, and significantly reducing costs and time to complete a project. In addition , Unity allows developers to launch their games to market in multiple windows / screens simultaneously. For example , one single development with Unity is automatically playable on mobile phones, consoles and browsers. Global commercial successes as Subway Surfers , Temple Run 2 or Bad Piggies, and meny other acclaimed independent titles like Kentucky Route Zero, or Sir . You are Being Hunted, have been created using Unity Technologies.
Apr 9th
As in previous years, games created by Spanish university students will play a key role at the National Videogame Awards ceremony. Those students or student groups wishing to compete have until May 31 to enter their games, which they can do using the form below. The three finalists, who will be announced in June, will have the opportunity to present their projects at an event organized by Innogames, a leading multinational company in online game development and publishing.
The final winner, who will be announced at the 7th annual National Videogame Awards ceremony on June 26, will have the opportunity to travel to Cologne next August to take part in the European videogame fair, Gamescom. Innogames will pay for travel costs and lodging for 4 persons, entry to the fair, and participation in company events and exclusive company parties.
Apr 3rd
Executive Producer for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell franchiseincluding book and film development and is responsible for new IP creation at Ubisoft Toronto. Jade is best known as co-creator and Executive Producer of Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft’s bestselling franchise.
With over 74 million copies sold to date, Assassin’s Creed is one of the bestselling game franchisesof all time, generating over $3.5 billion in revenue. While at Ubisoft Montreal, Jade was also the Executive Producer responsible for the creation of Watch Dogs and Mighty Quest for Epic Loot.Jade holds a DEC in Pure and Applied Science, and a BSc in Computer Science from McGill University. She started her career as an online programmer for Sony Online and has held various programming and management positions at Sony, Electronic Arts and game developmentstart-ups.
Jade is on the Board of Directors of WIFT-T, an organization dedicated to the advancement of women across screen-based industries.Jade likes singing silly songs with her kids, unicorns, and poking dead things with a stick.
Mar 13th
The renowned video game designer Tim Schafer (Brütal Legend, Grim Fandango, Monkey Island, ...) is the first keynote announced by Gamelab organizers for the 10th edition of the prestigious conference taking place in Barcelona (Spain) the last week of June 2014.
Schafer is the President and CEO of Double Fine Productions, a San Francisco-based video game developer, makers of the critically acclaimed games Psychonauts,Brütal Legend, Costume Quest, Stacking, Iron Brigade, Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, and Double Fine Happy Action Theater. Prior to Double Fine, Tim was a Project Leader at LucasArts Entertainment Company, where he was responsible for several classic PC adventure games, including Grim Fandango and Full Throttle. Tim also co-designed Day of the Tentacle, and served as a writer and assistant designer on The Secret of Monkey Island 1 & 2. He is considered one of the most influential game designers of all times.
Mar 5th
Founded in 2008, Gamelab annual awards represent the highest level of recognition to be achieved by game companies and professionals in Spain. The jury of the Awards is composed of all the members of the Spanish Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, a non-profit institution, made up of Spanish videogames professionals.
Voted categories include best game design, art direction, technology innovation, original sound and music, best mobile game, best browser game, etc. There are also special categories for student and independent (not-incorporated teams) games.
If you have published a new title (for any platform) from June 1st 2013 to May 31st 2014, you can now fill out this online form until May 15th and enter the competition. Voting for Academy members will be open from June 1st 2014 and the Awards ceremony where the winners will be revealed will take place in the evening of thursday June 26th.
Feb 26th
According to the latest industry reports, the global games market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 6.7 percent to $86.1 billion by 2016. This tendency is also reflected in the growing number of European studios that are turning their heads to the production of smartphone, tablet and smartTV content.
Responding to this reality, Gamelab Barcelona 2014 will put a special focus on mobile games contents and, in the following weeks, will announce a whole program of activities, conference and panels, featuring top-notch speakers from the worldwide sector.
Dec 9th
The 10th edition of the prestigious Gamelab Conference, hosting special anniversary celebrations, will return to the city of Barcelona oJune 25th - 27th, 2014.
The conference is a “gourmet” event that brings together the most creative and influential minds of the games sector as well as other relevant experts from a growing number of adjacent industries. It covers the latest trends, challenges and growth strategies for the digital entertainment industries, and comprises a good amount of networking events, game-career accelerator seminars and online matchmaking tools that help increasing the interaction among the professional participants and the companies.
The list of speakers that have participated in previous Gamelab events features some of the top game creators, entrepreneurs and influencers of all times, including names like Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima, Will Wright, Peter Molyneux, Mark Cerny, Cliff Bleszinski, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Trip Hawkins, Ian Livingston, Michel Ancel, Jesse Schell, Kazunori Yamauchi, Alex Seropian, Minh Le, Patrice Desilets, Tommy Palm, Chris Avellone, Al Lowe, Charles Cecil, Siobhan Reddy, Enric Álvarez, Phil Fish, James Ohlen, Robert Bowling, Randy Pitchford, Matias Myllyrinne, Julien Merceron, etc.
Last edition of Gamelab Barcelona welcomed over 1.200 professional attendees, 250 game companies and 200 journalists representing the most influential industry and general media.
Nov 25th
The Japanese games industry remains as one of the strongest and most influential ones in the world, but as the global market keeps on evolving and growing fast there is a need for Japanese developers to understand and adapt quickly to what is happening outside their country.
Gamelab Conference brings some fresh air and inspiration from Europe and America to those companies and professionals in Japan, looking to expand their business abroad. Gamelab Conference will get together some of the brightest minds of the Japanese, European and American games industry, to discuss about the current state of the Japanese industry and its potential to re-conquer the world.
As the two main highlights of the event, Gamelab Conference has announced the participation of Mark Cerny, Lead Architect of PS4, and Yu Suzuki, Japanese Games Industry Legend, creator of SEGA world hits like Out Run, After Burner and VirtuaFighter. The event will take place at the Spanish Embassy in Tokyo on march 27th and 28th, 2014, and the latest updates about the program are available online at tokyo.gamelabconference.com
Nov 12th
Last weekend, several hundreds of Spanish students attended a games conference organized by Gamelab in Madrid. The conference featured some of the best game studios and specialists in the country including Gonzo Suarez (creator of Eidos hits Commandos and Commandos 2), Enric Alvarez (Creative director of Castlevania Lords of Shadow), Kevin Cerda (Game designer of 2012 Appstore jewel Nihilumbra), Raul Rubio (creative director of indie Xbox hit Deadlight), Jesus Iglesias (creative director of the new MMO of Korean CJ E&M, Pirates Treasure Hunters) or Ricardo Carretero (Lead designer of Dragon City Mobile).
These experienced professionals kindly offered the students a closer approach to specific technical and strategic knowledge in an exclusive selection of talks and in-depth seminars covering topics topics like publishing, project funding and management, game production, tools and services, games operation, marketing, etc.
The event was part of the first edition of Madrid Games Week, a consumer oriented expo that welcomed over 50.000 gamers in the capital city of Spain. It was the third time that Gamelab organized this kind of game Academy days in Madrid. The event has also been held with success in other Spanish cities like Barcelona or Gijón.
Nov 7th
Last November 6th, the Mobile World Centre in Barcelona hosted a special Gamelab event aiming to increase the public exposure of the local startup ecosystem and to improve its relations with the business angels and venture capitalists community. The jury of the contest, formed by a well curated group of investors, industry specialists and public institutions representatives, attended the pitchs of ten pre-selected finalists that had a 3 minutes slot to briefly introduce their projects to the audience. The winner of the contest was the Barcelona based games technology company Gamedonia, whose founders earned a free ticket to fly to Helsinki and enter the 2014 edition of the prestigious Slush Conference.
The event was organized by Gamelab in cooperation with the Finish Accelerator Program Startup Sauna, the Mobile World Capital, the Government of Catanonia, the city of Barcelona, the Catalonian Association of Interactive Entertainment Producers (DEVICAT) and the Spanish branch of BDO.
