Portugal news - Is Portugal becoming a hub for the video game industry? Here is an overview of the video game industry in Portugal as well as the growth forecast.
According to data just released by Statista, revenue from the video game market in Portugal is projected to reach USD 374.50 million in 2023, while it is expected to register an annual growth rate of 9.65% to reach a projected market volume of USD 541.40 million by 2027.
Portugal’s video game industry includes over 80 companies that produce videogames such as Digitality Games and Ground Control Studios. The industry is starting to be recognized globally and Portugal is one of the 9 countries benchmarked in the Statista market study. The Portuguese video game industry is attracting multinationals such as Swedish company Evolution, US company Fortis Games and English company Miniclip.
Lisbon’s Unicorn Factory is developing Portugal’s future Gaming Hub in partnership with global company Fortis Games. US company Fortis Games, that was founded in 2021, opened an office in Portugal in July 2023. Fortis bought Portuguese Doppio Games and has selected Portugal as their hub since there is an incredible talent pool. Lisbon’s Gaming Hub will provide support to startups by developing synergies with investors to create Portugal’s future unicorns.
Multinational company Miniclip, that was created in 2001 in the UK and that has offices in 10 countries including the Netherlands, Italy and Turkey, with a global workforce of 1,000 people, invested in Portugal in 2010. The company, that has a portfolio of over 60 high-quality mobile games with 400 million monthly users globally, selected Portugal for its largest videogame producing studio. With the success of their operations, Miniclip invested EUR 11 million in a second production studio in Portugal in 2019, with 4,000 square meters in Taguspark. The new location was selected due to its proximity to IST, the higher technical institute, since Portuguese engineers are considered to be among the best.
The investment strategy followed by Miniclip is for global expansion using Portugal as a hub. Miniclip employs 350 people and is expanding rapidly. Even though their core business in Portugal is digital games development, the company is expanding to complementary business areas including data engineering and business analytics that are essential to support development.
Synergies between Portugal’s academia and industry underpin the growth of the video game industry. The University of Aveiro, in northern Portugal, is hosting a conference on Videogame Sciences and Arts on November 28-30 and it is expected to include researchers in the expanded field of videogames to disseminate work between the academic community and the industry.
The global market for videogames includes at least 3.5 billion people, with games based on mobile devices being the largest segment with 74% of global revenue. Since Portugal has an existing talent pool and a promising market that is attracting international players, the video game industry could expand rapidly if the Government promoted the sector via tax incentives, in line with what is done by other European countries to encourage startups and to attract multinationals.
According to Jeferson Valadares of international company Fortis Games, Lisbon is well positioned to become the next gaming hub in the same way that Barcelona, that had a nascent industry 10 years ago, now has a booming sector with 400 studios. Within one year, Fortis Games made several acquisitions including Oktagon Games in Brazil and Metagame in Romania and Portugal is set to be their international hub where their executive team will be located.
Lisbon’s Unicorn Factory will be an incubator for an industry that is expected to grow by nearly 50% within 4 years to reach USD 541.40 million by 2027 and thus transform Portugal's capital into the next Gaming Hub.
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