A group of European pioneers in the video game industry have chosen Barcelona to create their new studio, called Bespoke Pixel. Led by Sweden’s David Polfeldt, the former head of Massive Entertainment at Ubisoft Group, the new studio will create 50 new jobs and focus on developing Triple-A video games – the equivalent of film blockbusters – for PCs and consoles. The Barcelona studio, which involves an investment of 25 million euros, will have the ‘lead’, i.e. it will be the company’s headquarters in Europe.

Its founders’ decision and the process involved in establishing Bespoke Pixel in Barcelona received support from the Government of Catalonia and Barcelona City Council.

Bespoke Pixel decided to locate its sole headquarters in Barcelona in order to concentrate the leadership and development of its online video game projects in the Catalan capital. “We want to set up a studio that creates original projects, with a specific focus and refined, well-designed gameplay,” explained David Polfeldt. To that end, they aim to create “a flexible and expert team dedicated to prototype development, leveraging the founding team’s extensive background in order to deliver world-class gaming experiences”.

The founding team of Bespoke Pixel chose the Catalan capital from among fifteen options. “No matter how we look at it, Barcelona always stands out as number one in a wide range of categories,” said Polfeldt. “The talent here is incredible, and the wide range of university training available also guarantees access to talent in the future,” he added. Moreover, “Barcelona is already a thriving and dynamic hub. In the coming years, we want to contribute to its ecosystem with a studio that provides leadership in the global gaming industry,” he concluded.

According to the Catalan Minister for Business and Labour, Roger Torrent i Ramió, Bespoke Pixel’s arrival in Catalonia is “proof of our country’s consolidation as a leading ecosystem in the video game sector”. The creation of this new studio is “a turning point for the growth of this industry in Catalonia, both in terms of the type of project and the reputation of the organisations behind it,” he added.

Over the past 30 years, David Polfeldt has established himself as one of the most prominent names in the video game industry in Sweden in particular, and in Europe in general. Polfeldt has spent 17 years at the head of Ubisoft’s Massive Entertainment studio, where he has produced titles including World in Conflict, Assassins Creed, Far Cry, Just Dance Now, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars: Outlaws. The Swedish creator has also advised companies including Disney and PlayerUnknown Productions, and has published the book The Dream Architects: Adventures in the Video Game Industry (Grand Central Publishing, 2020).