The Los Angeles Staples Center The 2013 photo (above) shows the League of Legends (LOL) in the concert before starting a game of the World Video Game Championship. In that edition, 32 million people followed the competition, firsthand, most of them via the Internet. This Friday, 30 October, the great final of the Euroleague basketball in Berlin is being disputed. The parties at the Paris, London and Brussels qualifying stage have attracted thousands of spectators, due to an increasingly global phenomenon that surprises people.

Here you have the images of a match of this year's semifinals, showing the dimension that the championship has:

What has led all these people to occupy sports stadiums? What do we do with the computer screen? “And what does it take thousands of people a week to watch football? They like it,” said Urtzi Odriozola and Xabier Calvo, members of the Game Erauntsia community, formed by players who work in Basque. But football teams are, in part, hallmarks of identity, feelings unite us with one club or another -- we've tried to reason. “In Euskal Herria you still do not notice that movement, but it will come. For example, the Baskonia Atlantis will have its followers.” BASKONIA Atlantis? “Yes, the project has been launched by the well-known basketball club of Vitoria-Gasteiz and the company Atlantis eSports. They have just formed a team of fifteen professional players competing in championships around the world of electronic sports.”

The agreement is a pioneer. Turkish Besiktas and the German Wolfsburg have already joined the game challenges, but Baskonia and Atlantis are the first to merge in this way. The basketball club has explained that its goal is to strengthen its brand internationally and expand its business channels in an increasingly larger market that allows new advertising assets to be generated. The main sponsor of the group is Mars Gaming, a company dedicated to the production of products intended for video game users.

Electronic sports or eSports are competitions that bring together professional players, not necessarily games related to a sport. FIFA and NBA2K competitions are held, as well as LOL, Hearthstone, Dota2, CS:GO or Call of Duty. They emerged about fifteen years ago in Asia, and especially in South Korea. It is an industry that moves around EUR 18 billion a year; there are championships that allocate EUR 2 million, and the best players each season earn more than EUR 500 000 in salaries, sponsorships, merchandising, image rights and so on. Electronic sports outperform U.S. basketball NBA League audiences. 205 million people watched or played the 2014 championships. In the Spanish state, the growing market currently moves 3.7 million viewers and 763 million euros, 31% more than in 2013. By 2017, a stadium with a capacity of 15,000 people will be built in China, hosting only electronic sports, according to the organization. The end of LOL 2014 brought together over 45,000 people around the world at the World Cup stadium in Seoul, South Korea. The numbers are to go crazy. The Basque Country has not given up playing either. The 15th edition of the GameGune European Championship will be held at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao on 20 and 21 November. The Euskal Encounter, organized in eleven editions, two at the Aldea Digital de México meetings, and last year as a differentiated event at the Euskalduna Palace, will focus this year on the HearthStone card game.

More than talking about the Basque sector?

The history of modern video games begins in the 1950s (see graph below). More recently compared to other sectors. However, it has grown rapidly and has already surpassed the market in which cinema and music are found together. In 2011, it mobilised some EUR 35 billion, in 2013 some EUR 65 billion… and in 2016, it is forecast to exceed EUR 75 billion. In addition, it is estimated that the active users of video games will be around EUR 1 billion. It is therefore understandable that Baskonia should embark on this adventure.

What is the situation of the video game market in Euskal Herria? What development has it had since the Biscayan Juan José Epalza and in 1987 the Donostiarra Zeus Estudio created the first games with Made in Euskal Herria (Frogger and Hundra)?

“We can’t talk about an industrial sector, because there are few Basque companies that have become involved in the video game business, and they only have four or five workers,” says Leioa journalist and community manager Julen Zaballa. Load project: The history of the Basque video game (1985-2009) is being the subject of intensive research carried out by the Tabakalera centre of Donostia-San Sebastián.

It says that it is necessary to distinguish between productions aimed at entertainment – those referred to in the report – and the so-called serious game, simulation games and the like, which are more focused on education or training. “With regard to these seconds we have a fairly strong sector, it is the one that costs the most in the world of video games. It is the safest wager, a closed product is manufactured and sold to several customers. Entertainment, on the other hand, faces more difficulties. You can create a good game, but people have to buy and for this it is essential to know the product; if there is no strong advertising plan… French and Spanish developers are in the same port”.

We asked him if the mobiles have opened new paths and helped make the games visible. “Companies have realised that smartphones are not the panacea,” he explains: “It was previously said that anyone could make a game, that the laptops would open many doors. To take the first step, maybe yes, but then comes the comedies when you have to sell the product. In Apple or Android virtual stores, the most recent games are at the top of the list, but if nobody knows you, you'll sink into a sea of giant apps and disappear. Work four or five months for this...” He believes it would help to invest more in advertising, although it should be borne in mind that we are talking about “money”: “Big companies spend millions of euros on marketing. Candy Crush, Angry Birds… It’s a complicated market, so in the past year and a half companies like Delirium Studios in Bilbao and Relio Videogames have decided to bet on Indian consoles games.

The encouragement of “independence”

In the world of consoles it is common for multinationals to spend two or three years to create a great AAA category game, as behind there is a huge work: design, programming, music, photos, script, dubbing… The most successful games require an effort – and a budget – the size of a movie. In order to keep the market dancing during this time, it is convenient for them to include other games in their catalogues, and the “alternative” proposals take advantage of that gap to the extent that they can fill the gap.

Without entangling in the debates generated by the term, we can say that indie or independent games are unconventional products made by small developers, easier to manage, simpler if desired, graphically less powerful but with a special artistic touch. “They know their weaknesses and try to strengthen other areas such as creativity,” says Xabier Calvo, a member of the Game Erauntsia community. The Alicia River, the graphic adventure that the company Delirium Studios has just presented, is the first in Euskera that you can play on a console, the Nintendo WII U machine.

Before addressing production in Basque, a quote for the agenda: AzPlay 6. The competition, which until now was called HóPlay, will be held from 26 November to 1 December at the Azkuna ZENTROA in Bilbao (Alhóndiga). Besides being a meeting point between companies, professionals and enthusiasts in the sector, it is also a support platform for new projects, such as the €5,000 prize for the best Basque video game.

Expensive locations

Taking the first game in Basque for a console in 2015 highlights the difficulties that minority languages have in biting in this competitive market. “Nintendo and the rest of the multinationals do not have the Basque system incorporated into their systems, nor the Catalan for example,” explains Zaballa.

According to Calvo, for the developers of Euskal Herria “it is very difficult” for the products in Euskera to be profitable: “Even in another language, we can’t compete with big companies; see Relevo, Baboon! published the game directly in English.” Odriozola believes that it is “impossible” for Electronic Arts (EA) and company to market games in Basque. He explains that EA was asked to take the Basque version of FIFA. The multinational responded that it would open the codes and give the opportunity to anyone who is willing to translate them on their own… if it was ensured that 100,000 copies of the game would be sold. “It’s very difficult to get to that figure.”

Beyond the changes in the casings of the product, translating the game into the Basque means that you have to locate it, adapt to our language expressions, word games, jokes and so on, as you do with any film, series or book. And that takes time, putting in place a team of work, money, after all. “The translations must be taken into account from the very beginning, when the game is over, the date of publication can be extended,” explains Odriozola. “There are games where voices are only recorded in English, but they also offer subtitles in other languages. I don't know if you could do that. Also, Game Erauntsi members believe that making light in the mobile universe is complicated: “In addition to the fact that our market is much smaller, we have to bear in mind that games are not very deep and that English commands can be understood by almost everyone.”

The first simple entertainment games in Euskera, for use in PC computers, were published in the year 2000, Estropadak first and Mendizaleak a little later, by the hand of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa and the company 3DNews TV of Errenteria. Then came the Jai Alai Sport, the graphic adventures developed by Elhuyar… There are not many, but there are examples: The memory thieves, the three musketeers, the secret of the Kao-Sumendi, the three of the Armix saga… They are productions aimed at children and young people in general.

The institutional momentum

More and more people are playing video games, whether it's consoles, computers or mobiles. The Internet has brought users from all over the world into play, the big multinationals compete to create the most successful product. It is up to businesses and other local actors to demonstrate that they are not excessive waters. The users, witnesses of Game Erauntsia, work in a Basque videogames community of more than 260 members, centered in the Basque country, which organizes championships, makes translations, delivers workshops and conferences and, with the aim of strengthening ties with the administration and submitting to subsidies, is on the way to become an association. Administration. Considering the opportunity offered by the sector, public institutions believe that they should make a greater effort to help with the translations or gain an international presence, as sought by the business group Anabol Game. Virtualware, Administret Multimedia and Ikasplay, the Tecnalia corporation, the Ideateca and Delirium studios, the Digital5 consultancy service, the music studios of Bigorrín, the Vocento communication group and the DigiPen international institute, which has in Bilbao the only European videogame development campus, were established in 2011 in the framework of the HóPlay. The Game is part of the Gaia cluster.

Julen Zaballa, for his part, talks about the importance of projects such as the Euskal Encounter: “It has been a quarry of programmers, an essential meeting point to get to know us and share experiences. The Spanish company Pyro Studios, for example, found young talents there. If we look at the credits of the games of the Commandos saga, we will realize that there are a lot of people on the team that is Euskaldun.”

For Basque and Basque productions to open their way, it will be necessary for all the actors to intervene, although it may seem like a motto that has become a topic. We have to be aware that gaming isn't a thing of four weird cats, but it moves a lot of people and a lot of money, unless we want the disappointing message Game Over to appear at the center of the screen.

The question of men (brave)

Although consoles and mobiles like Wii have made almost everyone play video games, there are still many differences between men and women, especially in the case of hardcore users who spend a lot of time on the screen. Baskonia-Atlantis is an example: fifteen professional players are men. Precisely, his introductory photo (below) has allowed us to ask members of the Game Erauntsia community about the machismo attributed to the world of video games.

“The prejudices and some comments that can be read here and there disturb the girls. The characters in the games are also like this: strong kids, hypersexualized women like Tomb Raider. Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto… All these games, those of the Play Station console in general, are aimed at boys, while those of Nintendo are aimed at girls by puzzles. It's a vicious circle that lasts through time and keeps women in the background. Look, Mario, to name a game long ago, the man has to save the princess… And if the princess doesn’t have an impressive chest, it’s because the programmers of that time didn’t have the means to design it. Things are changing, but…”.