The IndieDevDay is the great party of the video game developed in Spain. It may sound like a cliché, but the numbers reflect it: more than 120 developer companies are meeting from today until Sunday at the La Farga venue, in Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), to share their creations and thus celebrate that arduous task that is the creation of a video game.
In its sixth edition, the event that was born in a humble way in the Canòdrom of Barcelona and grew in recent years in a crowded Cotxeres de Sants, takes its biggest leap to date by moving to a location that is seven times larger than that of the year past. In total, 8,500 square meters of video game culture within an event that is aimed at both professionals in the sector and the general public.
IndieDevDay is far from being the video game event that receives the most aid and subsidies from public institutions, but it is the largest video game fair currently held in Catalonia in terms of size, impact, diversity, and acceptance by part of the industry itself and the public. It is not a fair where the big brands in the sector come together to show their latest developments, but it is an event where visitors can try independent video games accompanied by their own creators.
In a country in which most of the business fabric of video game companies is made up of small development studios, the event that starts today in La Farga is the one that best connects with the reality of the Spanish electronic entertainment industry. According to data from the White Paper of the Catalan Video Game Industry 2022, almost half (46%) of Catalan development studios have 5 or fewer workers.
For this sixth edition, the event has a huge amount of content and news. In addition to the opportunity to try around 170 titles, the fair has a rich calendar of conferences and workshops that last three days and are dedicated to both professionals in the sector and amateurs. In fact, today, Friday, is a day reserved for members of the sector, but on Saturday and Sunday the fair is open to the public.
Another of the pillars of the event is video game training. The main teaching centers in this field have a presence at IndieDevDay. Likewise, for this edition the Generalitat of Catalonia has organized a series of activities to connect companies in the sector with young talent, as well as to bring closer and promote the visibility of women in this industry, where they only represent 25% of the workforce. .
Like last year, the American publisher Devolver Digital – surely the most prestigious indie label in the world – once again supports the event; something that is also added to by Steam, the leading computer video game distribution platform, which these days will highlight some of the titles present at the fair in its store.
Another activity that returns – and which was a real sensation during the last edition – is the sticker album that visitors must complete as they try out games at the fair. It is a fun way to encourage the public to come to the stands of each studio, but also to encourage exchange between attendees. In fact, the fair also has an app that recommends games to visitors and the best routes within the venue.
Beyond an event, IndieDevDay is a way of understanding and claiming the video game industry. It’s also an event that highlights diversity and strives more than any other to make everyone feel welcome. What began as a fair organized by four people in their free time has today reached a new stage: it is becoming more professional with the aim of consolidating itself in the coming years as one of the largest independent video game events in the world.
