The presence of Catalan in video games has increased significantly in recent years. Finding titles that incorporate this language continues to be complicated, but the current offering is light years away from the practical invisibility that Catalan experienced during the first decades of the electronic entertainment industry. With the aim of promoting the video game experience in this language, last year the SAGA gaming show was born, which today opens its doors again with a second edition that grows in terms of space and content.
Until next Sunday, those people who stop by the La Farga de l’Hospitalet de Llobregat venue will be able to get up close and personal with the video game ecosystem in Catalonia. This new edition of the fair organized by the non-governmental organization Platform for Language in collaboration with the Department of Culture of the Generalitat almost doubles last year’s space and grows to 7,000 square meters. It also hopes to grow in attendance, which last year was 3,500 attendees, according to its organizers.
“Our goal is for visitors to cross the portal and discover that playing video games in Catalan can be something completely normal,” says Susanna Pérez, one of the organizers of the event. “We want to break that linguistic gap, but we also have the objective that visitors can learn first-hand about the work and the people behind a video game,” she adds.
Unlike other fairs dedicated to the interactive medium, SAGA is neither an event focused on the latest developments, nor one in which the biggest brands in the sector exhibit their products. “The show wants to reflect the entire video game ecosystem – explains Pérez – and for that reason it is divided between large areas: the community, development and training studies.”
In its second edition, SAGA expands the number of exhibitors from 50 to 75. In these stands it is possible to try games in development and talk to their creators, as well as meet the multiple communities of video game users in Catalan, who take advantage of the room to meet in person. Obviously, up to 50 gaming stations are not missing, nor are eSports competitions, another of the main axes of the event.
In Catalonia there are more and more training centers dedicated to video game development that take advantage of the show to show their offer. This educational aspect is completed with a series of more technical presentations dedicated to specific aspects of development, but also other talks more open to all audiences, who this year want to emphasize diversity. For example, with a mentoring session for women in the industry or a presentation on the prevention of digital sexist violence.
“We want to make gender roles visible within this sector, but also among the players themselves, in order to try to demonstrate how important it is to have an industry that is as diverse as possible,” explains Susanna Pérez, who in addition to participating in the organization of the event also She is a video game content creator in Catalan under the name SimmerValenciana.
The number of activities available has multiplied compared to last year, something that also has a lot to do with SAGA’s collaboration with other already established events such as IndieDevDay, dedicated to independent video games, or RetroBarcelona, true guardians of the video game and classic computing exhibiting a varied selection of consoles and computers from the past. In fact, the organizers of the show affirm that there will also be some surprises when it comes to retro games in Catalan.
According to the White Paper of the Catalan Video Game Industry 2022, 53% of Catalan development studios incorporate this language in their productions, but when it comes to titles made outside of Catalonia, their inclusion is practically non-existent. This situation means that the immense totality of the offer in this industry does not incorporate Catalan. However, in this last year slight progress has been seen in this regard. That titles like After Us or Top Troops, developed by the Catalan companies Piccolo Studio and Social Point but distributed by the American giant Take-Two (Grand Theft Auto), have incorporated Catalan is a small step forward that can encourage other international publishers. .
The second edition of SAGA is held at the La Farga fairgrounds in l’Hospitalet de Llobregat from December 1 to 3. The entrance price is 7 euros.