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BETA | REGION FOCUS: SPAIN
WHAT NEXT?
Above: Filmutea’s transmedia project Panzer Chocolate, which brought some Spanish game developers closer to parallel industries in the country
52 | AUGUST 2011
RISING TO THE CHALLENGE Spanish developers face myriad other challenges too. Like their global contemporaries they are fighting in an increasingly fragmented and diverse market where focus is key. “There are many small studios in Spain, and there is an obsession with triple-A retail titles.” says García. “Most Spanish developers cannot afford the budgets of their overseas counterparts. We should be smarter and try to be more flexible to avoid the ‘cheap work for hire’ or ‘triple-A or bust’ labels.” Spain is also a victim of the great international brain drains such as Canada; a fact that is slowing the speed at which the country returns to its zenith. Add to that the fact that the country is suffering from a lack of locally centred publishers, and it’s clear that there is much work to be done. “Today, most of the publishers and distributors in the country are subsidiaries of foreign companies, and most of the income from sales goes abroad, independently of the games being developed in Spain or not,” states Bitoon’s Tamargo. “We need to be able to distribute and publish our titles internationally, without losing the ownership of our own IPs on the way.” Fortunately for Bitoon, something is already being done. “The most important challenge right now is transitioning from development to publishing,” confirms Fernandez Lobo. “The lack of Spanish publishers is clearly limiting our capability to grow both individually as companies, and as an industry. We make great games like Castlevania, but we make them for big international companies that can go away with their brands and IPs at any time.” As a result bodies like The Academy of the Arts and Interactive Sciences are hoping to guard locally made IPs in the online spaces by helping studios create their own distribution and publishing platforms.
There’s also been a drive to assist developers with the finer details of business practice, all as part of a response to the Spanish authorities apparently tough line on those starting companies. “Building a company is hard, but if you try to create a small company the burden is very high,” says Ricardo Amores Hernández, CTO of Gijon microstudio CrazyBits. “For example, you must pay a lot of taxes every month from day one, whether you are making a profit or not, which is not a very nice thing if you follow the ‘classic’ business model; create a product, get revenue when it is finished.” POSITIVE THINKING There’s little doubt then, that Spanish developers have plenty of challenges to address. However, a sense of positivity prevails, and most studios and individuals based in Spain working on games development seem to be both realistic and optimistic, looking forward rather that backward. “The Spanish software golden age of the 1980s is gone and won’t be back, so get over it,” says Tequila Works’ Rubio Muna rriz, cutting straight to the chase. “We are living a renaissance age now and must take advantage of it to move forward. Our biggest chance of success is to take advantage of our strengths, believe in ourselves, help each other, listen to others’ experience to make us wiser.” On the matter of how best to proceed, the last word goes to Tamargo. “We need to keep maturing and growing, being able to bring and sell our very own creations and IPs, instead of relying on third-party licences, which are also good, but which prevent showing one of our very best qualities as developers, which is creativity,” says the Bitoon COO. “There is a big hunger among local developers to make great things, and I’m not necessarily referring to huge triple-A productions. I’m talking about games that will make a difference and that shall be recalled over the years by players from all over the world.”
Spain’s game development sector is beginning to see a return to its glorious 1980s heyday, when the country’s developers were among the global elite. However, to move forward, the new wave of Spanish studios cannot look back. So where next for those making game’s in the second largest country in western Europe? “We need to consolidate new talent, nurture it to steadily grow a stable business sector, and be dynamic enough to survive in an ever changing world,” suggests Tequila Works CEO Rau l Rubio Muna rriz. “We cannot make it alone, only working together; perhaps if we could join together and create something like what Nordic Game offers, but for Mediterranean developers.” Collaboration is certainly a mantra for the Spanish dev space, and a collective effort to keep both the industry headcount and locally cultivated IP close to home appears to define the future of the nation’s studios. “There are many talented game designers and programmers in Spain,” says Diana Diaz Montón, co-fouder of Spanish localisation specialist Native Prime. “The goal now is to keep the talent and the IPs in the territory, so that the industry can truly benefit from it and develop itself.” Whatever the means to progress, there’s absolutely a sense that the future of Spain’s game development sectors is one filled with opportunity; a fact being noticed by those in the country’s parallel and related industries. “What I have sensed so far in my short experience, talking to industry professionals and public bodies, as well as attending game events and presentations, is that there is a lot of growth potential in the coming years; both for the more established developers and the up and coming studios.” says Robert Figueras, director and producer of transmedia at Filmutea, a film and web specialist beginning to work with games. “Therefore, I believe the future here is very positive.”