More than 21,000 people turn the new SAGA Barcelona Game Fest into the great videogame event of southern Europe

• The first edition of the festival closes its doors after three days of strong attendance, with more than 2,000 participating students, competitions, cultural and family activities and a significant presence of industry professionals
• The professional business area has facilitated more than 1,500 meetings between studios, publishers, investors and companies from the sector, with more than 30 international publishers and investors taking part
• The competition finals and live music have rounded off a weekend that brought together more than 500 gaming points, 150 classic arcade machines, more than 200 independent videogames and hundreds of activities open to everyone
• The event has championed videogames as an expression of culture, a strategic industry and an activity open to all ages that must take the Catalan language into account
• The second SAGA Barcelona Game Fest will be held next year, once again at Fira de Barcelona

Barcelona, 11 October 2026. The SAGA Barcelona Game Fest closes its first edition with visitor figures that have exceeded expectations: around 21,200 people came to the Fira de Barcelona Montjuïc venue between Friday and today (Sunday). The festival closes its doors after three days of activity in which videogames have established themselves not only as a leisure activity, but also as an element of culture, artistic creation and the product of a powerful industry. During the three days of the event, the professional area facilitated a total of 1951 business meetings, and the festival hosted competitions, exhibitions, cultural activities, talks and gaming spaces. Barcelona has become a leading meeting point for the industry. The second edition will be held next year, once again at Fira de Barcelona.

After three days of non-stop activity, the SAGA Barcelona Game Fest today (Sunday) brought its first edition to a close with a great response from the public and the certainty that it has already established itself as the leading videogame event in southern Europe. The festival has brought together gamers, families, students, professionals, businesses, schools and colleges and content creators in a single space, and has shown the capacity of videogames to connect highly diverse audiences and to generate activities of cultural, educational, social and economic interest.

Tina Font, spokesperson for the SAGA Barcelona Game Fest, gave a very positive assessment of the event’s reception: “We have exceeded all the organisers’ expectations and reached 21,000 attendees. We have done so alongside international companies as representative of the industry as Nintendo, Devolver Digital and Larian Studios, which shows the great potential this industry has in our country.”

She also highlighted the professional side of the event, which brought together more than 160 independent studios and a total of 360 stands: “The success of the SAGA Barcelona Game Fest comes when a studio manages to close a deal or secure funding, or when a professional finds their dream job,” she stressed.

Font also emphasised the festival’s commitment to the Catalan language, in an edition that featured as many as 70 games in Catalan: “We want to keep backing Catalan and for it to become a corporate and business language. We also want the normalisation and social use of Catalan to be a core value, something that could be fully felt in this first edition.”

Three days for industry professionals, future professionals, and regular and occasional players

The first day of the SAGA Barcelona Game Fest, on Friday, was particularly aimed at industry professionals and schools and colleges. More than 2,000 students and teachers took part, around twenty educational activities were scheduled, and the UB Alma Mater League of Legends intra-university league was launched.

Professional activity continued throughout the weekend thanks to the festival’s business area, which connected development studios, publishers, distributors, investors and other industry players. The MeetToMatch platform made it possible to organise business meetings, while the event also hosted the specialised Mentorships for the Future tutoring sessions, sponsored by Larian Games, with more than thirty international publishers and investors taking part.

The programme also included talks on videogame development, marketing, entrepreneurship, vocational training, employment, diversity, musical composition, technology outreach and job opportunities within the sector.

Videogames as an expression of culture

One of the aims of the SAGA Barcelona Game Fest has been to champion videogames as a first-rate expression of culture. For this reason, the programme included activities linked to the history, music and preservation of videogame heritage. Among the highlights, as part of Japan’s participation as guest country, was a live interview with the Japanese composers Miki Higashino and Manami Matsumae, who also held meet-and-greets with their fans. The public was also able to enjoy concerts, round tables, exhibitions and educational activities focused on artistic creation linked to videogames.

More than 500 gaming points for an audience of all ages

The large numbers of visitors on Saturday and Sunday were particularly visible in the gaming areas and at the family activities. Over the three days of the event, visitors had access to more than 500 gaming points, more than 150 classic arcade machines, more than 200 independent videogames, a LAN area, virtual reality spaces, simulators, exhibitions and interactive activities.

Attendees were also able to visit the Nintendo stand, explore the activities of the Videogame Museum of Catalonia (MUVIC), tour the Gaming en Femení exhibition and discover projects developed by independent studios from around the world.

The response from families was particularly strong over the weekend, with a constant presence of visitors of all ages, helping to show videogames as a fully intergenerational cultural and leisure activity.

Finals and live performances rounded off the competitions this Sunday

Today (Sunday) was marked by competition, with Street Fighter 6, Mario Strikers and Pokémon Champions tournaments and, above all, the grand finals of the competitions played over the weekend. The Street Fighter 6 and Mario Strikers finals filled the festival’s eSports stage and drew hundreds of spectators, in a competitive programme that combined different disciplines, classic videogames and eSports-related events.

One of the day’s big attractions was the presence of Barça eSports, who took on the best players from UB Alma Mater in a competitive exhibition featuring a League of Legends match and 1v1 tournaments. The activity gave visitors a close-up look at how one of the country’s leading eSports projects works and reinforced the festival’s commitment to connecting the general public with the professional competitive scene.

Another highlight of the day was the cosplay catwalk, where seventeen participants brought a wide range of characters to life: from Link in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to Lebkuchen in Little Goody Two Shoes.

Music also had its place at the SAGA Barcelona Game Fest. Today it was the turn of Asturian pianist and composer Elesky, who has written soundtracks for videogames such as The Sky Project: Land of Norid and who captivated the audience at the Movistar Stage with her pieces. Meanwhile, on the Multipurpose Stage, Víctor Mame hosted a piano music quiz featuring iconic tunes from the audience’s favourite videogames.

The day’s programme was rounded out with talks, presentations and workshops. On the Movistar Stage, the talk ‘What Does It Cost to Rescue a Game?’ looked at digital archaeology, while the presentation ‘Players Don’t See What You Design’ explored player psychology and behaviour as a way to design more effectively, among other sessions.

Scopely, supporter of the festival

The SAGA Barcelona Game Fest has had the support of Scopely, the leading mobile game company in the United States and a global benchmark in free-to-play videogames, with global hits such as Monopoly GO!, Stumble Guys and MARVEL Strike Force, played by millions of people all over the world. Scopely has been present in Spain since 2017, where it is the largest videogame company by team size, with more than 1,000 professionals between its hubs in Barcelona and Seville. The 8,500 m² Barcelona hub is strategic for the company and is also the headquarters of Playgami, Scopely’s own technology platform, from which the games in its portfolio are developed and operated.

Movistar ensures the festival’s connectivity

Technical connectivity, high-capacity networks and internet access throughout the venue were provided by Movistar as official technology sponsor, ensuring the essential infrastructure for the LAN zone, the competition stations and the live broadcasts from the three official stages. This deployment reflects Telefónica’s commitment to its purpose of being the best way for citizens to access digital technologies, helping to deliver innovative experiences and to offer more and better services to customers.

A first edition that looks to the future

With this first edition, the SAGA Barcelona Game Fest has brought videogames, culture, education, competition and industry together in a single space. The festival closes its doors having connected developers, students, professionals and the general public, and with the aim of continuing to grow in future editions to strengthen the role of Barcelona and Catalonia as one of Europe’s main hubs for videogame creation, innovation and culture.