Nine Bulgarian gaming companies showcased their new products at the Gamescom event in Germany this weekend.
Bulgarian Gaming Companies Had a Big Strand at Gamescom
When it comes to world-famous gaming events, one would quickly think of Gamescom. The annual trade fair for video games is one of the biggest gaming events on the planet, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors across dozens of venues in multiple countries. Many video game developers use the event to exhibit upcoming games and game-related hardware.
This year’s iteration of the event just ended this weekend, being held in Cologne, Germany, and it saw many countries field their own stands at the event to showcase upcoming games. However, this year saw a new entry into the prestigious video game industry event – Bulgaria.
The small Eastern European country participated with its own stand at Gamescom for the first time ever. It combined ten different leading Bulgarian game developers who showcased their products, unveiling demos for their games. Said companies are Incineration Productions, Kipi Interactive, The Sixth Hammer, TDB Play, Elando, Chase a Cloud, VertexBee, Dreamtech, and Punchev Group.
In recent years, Bulgaria has become a hotspot for gaming and software development in Eastern Europe, with some experts even naming it the “Silicone Valley of the Balkans”. Multiple large and small gaming companies have opened offices in the country, such as Ubisoft and SEGA. However, the country has also seen the emergence of various software companies of its own, such as the ones we mentioned above.
What Did Bulgarian Companies Showcase at Gamescom?
While we do not have the time and space to talk about every product that the Bulgarian companies showcased at the event, we will talk about SpellPunk VR, which is arguably one of the most interesting upcoming VR titles.
Developed by Incineration Productions, the title has been in development for the past couple of years but is constantly being added to. The game impressed with its comic book art style and unique approach to gameplay where players draw magical symbols in the air with their hands to activate spells and duel with their opponents.
SpellPunk VR also comes with a banger soundtrack made by the world-famous composer Penka Kuneva. Born in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, Kuneva now lives in the USA where she has earned her place among the most praised composers in Hollywood.
SpellPunk VR is compatible with multiple VR devices, such as the Valve Index, HP Reverb G2, HTC Vive and Vive Cosmos, as well as Oculus Rift, and many others. It is also available to play in over 700 VR clubs in the world, with that number rapidly rising.
The Bulgarian State Helped the Companies’ Stand
It could be said that the Bulgarian companies’ stand at Gamescom might have had more difficultly without the help of state funding. The National Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (NAPSME) collaborated with CreaTech Cluster Bulgaria to aid the attendees.
According to Boyko Takov, executive director of NAPSME, Bulgarian companies have great potential to take a spot in the rapidly developing multibillion-dollar global gaming industry. “They (the Bulgarian gaming companies) generate high added value for our economy, create jobs, and are drivers of innovation, especially in areas such as graphics processing, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. As part of the creative industries, the gaming sector can also contribute to culture, tourism, education, and youth skills development,” Takov explained.
These sentiments were mirrored by Genoveva Hristova, chairwoman of CreaTech Cluster Bulgaria. She said that the videogame industry in Bulgaria adds about 3% of the country’s national income and has a large potential for further development on the global market. “I am convinced that we can be much more than an outsourcing partner for large companies,” Hristova further explained. “We have talented specialists and experts capable of creating their own games and original content. It is necessary to support them to take a worthy place in the world market.”
Why has Bulgaria Seen Such Development in Gaming?
Bulgaria wasn’t always such a hotspot for creating videogames, or software in general. In fact, gaming in Bulgaria was a lot more different some 20 years ago. You can learn more about the weird style of gaming in Eastern Europe we had back in the early 2000s. Not to mention that software development in the country back then was almost nonexistent, barring a few notable examples.
However, things have drastically changed in the last decade or so, as many foreign companies have opted to open offices in the country. Chief among these is probably the relatively low pay rates they need to pay their employees. Since Bulgaria is not a very wealthy country, prices are generally low, and so are wages.
For example, a programmer working in Bulgaria might receive €2000 (about $2230) as his or her initial pay. While this may seem quite low to Western readers, consider that the average salary in most large cities in Bulgaria is less than €1300, so 2K is quite a lot. Also, consider that software engineering in general is a sector that could grow a lot, and so can salaries with it.
Speaking of growth, the software development sector in Bulgaria is actually one of the stronger parts of the economy and there are more and more young people who want to enter it. This creates additional competition in the market which creates more space for development, making Bulgaria more attractive to both foreign and domestic investors.
On the topic of investing, remember that Bulgaria isn’t a very wealthy country. However, it’s “relatively” cheap to create a software office with a few dozen PCs. This makes it easier for new software companies to pop up in the country, as opposed to heavier industries, for example.
Conclusions
Much as the representatives of the two sponsoring bodies said, Bulgaria has seen rapid growth in the development of its video game sector in recent years. The recent participation of Bulgarian companies at Gamescom 2024 was an important step in establishing the country as a competitive participant in the global gaming industry. It is also proof that the talent and expert potential of Bulgarian companies can be leaders on the global stage.
Leave a Reply