Gamaga, AOne Games, Niebla Games and Ace Team are just some of the more than 60 successful Chilean exponents of an industry that is growing globally. "Our advantage comes from the quality and the Chilean seal", assures the president of the Video Games Chile association.
Video games have become the entertainment industry's biggest annual revenue earner in the world. In 2019 alone, it took in more than US$120 billion, and according to the latest global gaming market report from leading market researcher Newzoo, it will surpass US$200 billion by 2023.
And Chile is no exception to the rule, since in recent years it has shown exponential growth, with more than 60 national companies focused on the industry. Thus, in the last 10 years, the production of Chilean video games has gone from being incipient to becoming an industry that by 2020 was projected to generate US$8.5 million, according to data released by Video Games Chile.
"Chile has a lot to talk about in the Latin American region. Although we are not a powerful consumer market, in development we have great talent in different technical areas, such as programming, art direction and animation, among others," says Guillermo Gómez Zará, president of the Video Games Chile trade association. "Our advantage comes from the quality and the Chilean seal that is impregnated in the games developed in Chile. And this seal lies in not having to focus only on themes related to our own territory, but also in being able to intervene in themes far from our culture and give them our perspective with new colors and nuances," he added.
One example of the industry's growth is Gamaga, one of Chile's leading independent game companies. Founded in 2009, the video game company is responsible for titles such as Banana Kong, a mobile game that accumulated more than 200 million downloads in 7 years, and Operate Now Hospital, a surgery and hospital management simulator that has managed to raise more than US$50 million since its launch in 2016.
"When we started Gamaga in 2009, more than being fans of video games, we were fans of demonstrating that Chile could generate success in this type of industry," said Fernanda Contreras, co-founder and COO of Gamaga, in an interview with Las Últimas Noticias in April, after being named by Imagen de Chile as part of the Chilen@s Creando Futuro network.
AOne Games is another of the pioneers that stand out in the national industry. Born in 2015, it has been widely recognized for its first product "Omen of Sorrow", for PS4, receiving awards as Best Game at EVA Córdoba 2018; Second Most Anticipated Game of 2017 and Second Best Demo of 2017 at the Shoryuken Fighting Game Awards.
Among the new titles made in Chile that have been published in recent years are "Causa Voices of Dusk" by Niebla Games, "Cyber Ops: Tactical Hacking Support" by Octetos Studios and "Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break" by Ace Team and Giant Monkey Robot.
Video Games Chile states that the consumption of video games has also been growing at a national level. "Our partners have informed us that there has been an increase in the consumption of Chilean video games. This has been due to the increased visibility in different instances of offers in digital stores and in virtual activities where there have been streamers and developers showing Chilean video games", says Gómez Zará, president of the organization.
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