Portugalglobal | july / august 2024 13 In this way, the project's internation- alization strategy has been based on disseminating the added value of the Portuguese industry on the sec- tor's main world stages. According to Miguel Campos, Portugal has excel- lent trained staff and a technical and creative capacity far above the com- petition. However, it needs higher international exposure and the diffu- sion of individual interests and needs. "As a result, the message is lost". vate entities from various cities, from Lisbon to Funchal via Évora and Angra do Heroísmo. International partners like Amazon for Games and Carnegie- Mellon University are also involved. "We try to maintain a collaborative logic between different sensibilities, taking into account each one's size and experience. We have established direct communication channels, re- positories, and regular follow-up meetings. The aim is for quality prod- ucts to be produced and launched to ensure the sector's growth and sus- tainability", says Miguel Campos. For the consortium leader, video games can potentially transform the world. Thus, he believes that "in a global economy torn apart by pan- demic and war, video games have kept us continuously connected, sharing experiences, enabling posi- tive changes in behaviour and teach- ing us more about history, climate change, and the arts. They allow both a form of pure entertainment and an escape from daily reality, which is of- ten difficult, and a form of pure cul- ture and education." Despite being extremely competitive, the video game market is vast, and Portugal has yet to explore it properly. "Our model is to 'copy' a little of what happened in countries like Po- land, where a few people paved the way, and all it took was one big suc- cess to establish a whole new high- value industry", says Miguel Campos. In the Polish case, there was a robust higher education system, with excel- lent technical training and the need to diversify the economy, which are two points in common with Portugal. So, it only took a small company like CD Project to achieve international success with The Witcher video game to establish the country as one of the world's leading players, which at- tracts more investment and encour- ages small studios. "In Portugal, we intend to overcome these challenges by helping to empow- er our studios in areas such as mar- keting and the legal department and increasing the sector's international exposure. However, even in the Polish example, this evolution took at least a decade," recalls Miguel Campos. The eGames Lab thus intends to pro- mote an aggregated and cooperative approach, systematically making its presence felt at the leading world trade fairs in the sector and always under the same brand, in the logic of a national ecosystem and not closed off as a consortium. To this end, it invited the Portuguese Video Game Producers Association (APVP) to join it in Portugal's first participation in the Game Developers Conference (GDC 2024) in San Francisco, offering the possibility for other national stu- dios not belonging to the consortium also to come and present their titles and skills. "By achieving international success, we'll all have more value and opportunities," says Miguel Campos. The products and services generated by the consortium include tools for programmers, facilitating video game development, and new titles for a wide variety of platforms, incorporat- ing scientific advances generated by the project's activities. "We cover ar- eas ranging from blockchain, web3, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, as well as more specific and not so mainstream components, such as the development of a new IXP (internet access point) that reduces latency in video games." egameslab.pt
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