Top video games fair leaves Madrid for Barcelona

• • With Barcelona Games World, organizers hope to internationalize the fair
• • The aim is to compete with Milan and make Barcelona the videogames capital of Europe

This year, Barcelona will host the fair that was traditionally held by the videogame industry in Madrid. In October, Barcelona Games World will be held to present the latest videogame launches to the public and bring together professionals from the sector. AEVI, which promotes the event, hopes to find new audiences and boost the number of participants in order to compete with the fair currently held in Milan and make Barcelona the videogames capital of Europe.

The organizers have also insisted that they are seeking to give the fair a more international feel and want to take advantage of the business ecosystem in the technology industry in the city of Barcelona. There are more than 13 million videogames users in Spain, according to data from the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE), which puts Spain among the top countries in Europe in terms of number of users. The videogame sector has a turnover of more than 1 billion euros per year in Spain.

Barcelona Games World will take place from 6 to 9 October at Fira Barcelona Montjuïc fairgrounds. Geared towards audiences of all ages, it will present the latest productions from companies that belong to AEVI, which organizes the event and represents the sector, including Activision-Blizzard, Disney Interactive, Electronic Arts, GAME, Koch Media, Microsoft, Bandai Namco Games, Nintendo, Novarama, Sony Computer Entertainment, BadLandGames, Take Two Interactive, Ubisoft and Warner Interactive.

Plus, the fair will feature panel discussions with executives from top companies in the sector, as well as an online videogames competition. The association hopes to take advantage of the event to influence government policy regarding the videogames industry, a strategy they began implementing last year.