12 PORTUGUESE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY eGames lab A cluster for Portugal's video games industry The video games industry is the largest in the entertainment sector, surpassing the worldwide box office revenue of movies, streaming, and album sales and the five richest sports leagues combined. This sector has been known for its fragmentation in Portugal despite its great potential and highly qualified human resources. The eGames Lab project aims to re- spond to the specific technological and operational challenges of the video games industry in Portugal, namely, to establish a game develop- ment cluster with international reach in the country and to boost the Por- tuguese creative industries sector. It also aims to mobilize a fragmented and small industry, retain national talent, and position Portugal in the global market in this sector, attract- ing more investment. "The eGames Lab has already created more than 116 highly qualified jobs. The new products are already in final testing with the internationalization component proving equally decisive and Portugal being presented, for the first time, at the main international fairs in the sector under a single ban- ner 'Games from Portugal'", explains Miguel Campos, founder of the com- pany WOWSystems and leader of the eGamesLab consortium. "This has exponentially increased international interest, be it publishers or investors and the media". The project includes 22 entities, 14 micro and small companies, two sci- entific entities, and six public and pri-
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