The fourth edition of the F2P Campus, the world's first Free-to-Play video game accelerator campus, begins in Vitoria-Gasteiz

• The initiative, promoted by the Basque Government, the Provincial Council of Alava and Euneiz University, brings together, for another year in the capital of the Basque Country, 20 participants from 6 different nationalities who will receive advice of some of the world's leading experts
• The video games sector in Spain expects to generate a turnover of more than 1,630 million euros this year, and provide direct employment to almost 11,000 people 

The fourth edition of the F2P Campus Vitoria-Gasteiz began shooting today in the capital of the Basque Country. This initiative, promoted by the Basque Government, the Provincial Council of Álava and Euneiz University, will have 5 teams this year, selected from almost twenty proposals from 12 different countries. For the first time, one of the projects is a Vitorian entrepreneur who over the next 2 months will be able to accelerate his proposal together with the rest of the participants who have today presented their initiatives for the creation of new Free-to-Play video games, those in which it is not necessary to pay to be able to play. The Minister for Culture and Language Policy of the Basque Government, Bingen Zupiria, the Deputy for Economic Development and Innovation, Saray Zarate, the Rector of the Euneiz University, Lluís Vicent, and the Director of the F2P Campus, Raúl Herrero, welcomed these teams, with some of them coming from Turkey, Chile, Cuba and Catalonia.

The F2P Campus is seen once again as a reference event in a sector such as video games that, in Spain alone, expects to reach more than 1,630 million annual turnover this year, providing direct employment to almost 11,000 people. The initiative is coordinated by BIC Araba under the direction of Katoid and is also sponsored by the City Council of Vitoria-Gasteiz, the Euskaltel Foundation, the Vital Foundation and AWS for Games.

The five selected teams began their work today in a reserved space within the facilities of the Euneiz University in the Vital Building of Salburua. From here, they will accelerate their respective projects with the advice and support of almost twenty of some of the world's leading experts in the field, who will visit the campus up until September 17, the date scheduled for its completion. Among these gurus of the sector are names such as Eugene Yailenko, creative director at Zeptolab, a brilliant designer of free-to-play game mechanics, Joony Koo, Korean expert and one of the pioneers in the development of free-to-play games and in the use of blockchain and NFTs, Amir Rajan, designer, creator of “A Dark Room”, the first best seller on the Apple App Store, Sangpil Moon, founder and CEO of Cogoo, Isabel Tallos, founder of the successful independent studio Everguild that works with the well-known brand of Warhammer 40,000 and Xavier Carrillo, CEO of Studio Head, from which he has worked on the video game “Call of Duty”. In addition, joining the team of mentors of the F2P Campus, are some former students who, after their time in Vitoria-Gasteiz, have managed to drive their projects forward, as is the case of the Guipuzcoans Keplerians, a studio in Irún that has reaped numerous successes with games such as Evil Nun, and Aleix Risco, founder of Evil Zepelin, a studio that has settled permanently in the capital of Alava. This edition will also have the collaboration of Gameloft, one of the most important multinationals in the sector. The full list of mentors can be found on the campus website: www.f2pcampus.com

As in previous editions, all these experts will give talks open to the general public. The first will be on July 27 and will be given by the 2 responsible for the multinational Gameloft, focused on the economics, design and testing of video games. 

5 teams, 19 participants from 6 different nationalities

Over the next 2 months, the campus will play host to the 5 selected teams to accelerate their respective Free-to-play video game projects. There are 19 participants of 12 different nationalities with a very young average age, just over 28 years, of which 25% are women.

These are the leading teams of this fourth edition of the F2P Campus:

-JIB Games: Team from Turkey formed in 2009 that is dedicated to the development of massive multiplayer online video games. They will present the game Polity

-FromDust Studio: A Barcelona team that works in the BCN Game offices. Specializing in MOBA(Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) video games, a subgenre of real strategy video games in which 2 teams compete in a given battlefield. They will present the OxySpace game

-Conwiro: This is a Cuban team composed of 4 multidisciplinary profiles that seek to redefine the experience in Free-to-play video games. Introducing the Mech Infinity game

-Player to player: A Catalan team formed of 3 members specialized in mobile video games. They will present the Free Space game

-Notbug: A Chilean team founded by 3 professionals that currently has 8 members, focused on the South American market. They will present the game Pranimals

A sector in full expansion with little weight in the Basque Country

According to the Spanish Association of Video Game Producers and Developers (DEV), video games are a sector in full expansion in the state. During the past year, the 760 active studios registered invoiced around 1,435 million euros and this year that turnover is expected to increase to 1,636 million euros, employing almost 11,000 people. Catalonia and Madrid are the headquarters of half of the video game companies counted, Euskadi, at the moment, is a long way off those figures, with only 3.2% of the state total. Nonetheless, it is the sixth autonomous community behind, in addition to Catalonia and Madrid, Andalusia, Valencia and Galicia. The largest studios are located in Catalonia. In fact, this community represents 52% of state turnover and gathers 48% of total people employed.

One of the main objectives of the F2P Campus is to promote the video game sector in Álava and the Basque Country, favouring the generation of its own talent and also attracting new projects to our territory. One of the newcomers to the state was the Catalan company Evil Zepelin, which after participating in one of the campus editions, decided to move to Vitoria-Gasteiz. In this regard, the campus has been developing the Games Academy for several years, an initiative focused on promoting the incorporation of new young talent into this sector. This year it has been given a new impetus thanks to an agreement signed between the Euneiz University and BIC Araba to promote the video game sector as a professional outlet for Basque youth. Thus, since last month, practical workshops are being held that favour the development, programming and creation of video games. Two of these workshops have already been held in Álava under the title “Create your own video game from scratch”, with all places filled, and soon two more will be held, one at the Euskal Encounter, on July 22, and another within the framework of the Great Rural Kedada of Kuartango Lab, on September 23. A web space has also been created where all the programming can be consulted: https://www.gamesacademy.eus/