In this day and age in the global village, nothing holds you from working anywhere in the world. Well, almost nothing. I guess that unless you are a penguin enthusiast, you should probably not open a design studio in Antarctica.
“Give me a place to stand and I shall move the world” said Archimedes. “Give me internet, nice weather, great food and awesome talent, and I will conquer top 10” says Tiago Loureiro, videogames professional with a 10+ years industry experience ( 20+ in IT and entrepreneur since the tender age of 17).
That is what we have in Portugal: nice weather all year long, with one of Europe’s longest time of exposure to the sun – sure, we have rain too, and snow in the highlands, but usually we do not have blizzards nor landslides; we have the best gastronomy in Europe (honest) with delicious mediterranean delicacies to die for, as well as the biggest fishing exclusive area in the world; and to top it all we have amazing talent that some of you may already have hired – we currently we have awesome top notch professionals all over the world.
But you don’t have to take my word for it: other companies are starting to notice that as well. Miniclip made the bet of its life when deciding to open a mobile development studio in Portugal.
There are also a few other big names that have started to look to Europe’s westernmost coast, land of explorers, inventors and of fearless men and women, who do not take things for granted and proactively search for inventive ways to solve everyday problems (we call it “desenrascanço”).
One of those big names even consulted me about moving to Portugal – truly hope they decide to come.
We have Universities and media schools with videogame courses and programmes that interface with some of Europe’s finest academia, cooperating to create highways of personal growth that greatly benefit both foreign and local students. However, due to the current lack of appealing offers in the area they are, literally, flying away from Portugal, to not-so-greener pastures.
And the time is now! Currently, when it comes down to our lovely industry, you have mostly two to three persons indie studios, less than a handful of small companies and one big publisher (starts with ‘M’, ends with ‘p’ and has “inicli” in the middle).
Want to outsmart competition? Be the King of your business? Move your Game from the Loft? Glu the competition to the floor? Make the move now!
Need help? I’m glad you asked…
Defining Realities 