In today's edition of Gamesforum Studio Spotlight we sat down with Jordi Martin, Mobile Studio Manger, Ubisoft Barcelona. Here is what he had to say

• How many people are based in the Barcelona office?

Right now, we’re a close-knit group of about 90 in the Barcelona Mobile Studio. But if you take a step back and look at Ubisoft Barcelona as a whole, including both the HD and Mobile studios, we’re a pretty big team of around 300. And for the next milestone, we, over at BCN Mobile, are gearing up to welcome our 100^th member this year.

• What functions are the team responsible for in Barcelona?

We are a top-tier mobile production studio within the Ubisoft mobile studios network. Our team handles the entire game development cycle, from inception to live operations. We take pride in employing a diverse group of game developers, including programmers, game designers, artists, producers, and more. We also have a dedicated marketing and data team, as well as a Live Ops, Monetization, and Economy Design team to ensure the success of our games.

• Can you give the Gamesforum community a preview of what the team are working on in Barcelona?

We are excited to announce the upcoming launch of “Invincible: Guarding the Globe,” the first mobile instalment of the acclaimed comic books and TV show written by Robert Kirkman (Skybound, The Walking Dead). Our game is an ambitious take on the idle RPG genre with a twist running simultaneous battles. Currently, the game is in soft-launch in different locations, where it has received a very positive reception from both the Invincible fan base and genre enthusiasts.

We are also proud to operate the Hungry brand, which includes Hungry Shark Evolution, Hungry Shark World, and Hungry Dragon. The whole franchise which has amassed more than 1 billion downloads, is over 10 years old and still going strong. Our extremely lean and efficient team in Barcelona runs the entire Hungry brand, and we are proud to say that our games have consistently outperformed year over year.

• What’s the culture like at Ubisoft in Barcelona?

At Ubisoft, we believe that gaming should enrich both players’ lives and our own. That’s why we created a space in our studio where everyone has the freedom to grow into themselves. We celebrate freedom when it goes hand in hand with accountability and ownership. We encourage everybody to cultivate their uniqueness while caring for each other, collaborating, and sharing to achieve collective challenges. We never forget that we create and play games, so we love dreams that find their way into reality by executing a vision while striving for excellence.

• Why do you think Barcelona has emerged as such an important hub of the mobile games industry?

I think what we’re seeing now is the result of a snowball effect that started over 20 years ago when indie devs in Barcelona began targeting the mobile and emerging free-to-play market. Since then, a lot of things have happened that have made it the perfect environment to grow into what we’re seeing today: strong government support, access to subsidies and tax relief on par with other cultural industries in Spain, degrees (and master’s degrees) in video gaming, a thriving startup ecosystem, and let’s not forget the strategic location of Barcelona and its ability to attract talent thanks to its unparalleled quality of life.

• What trends in mobile game are you most excited about for 2024?

I’m curious about how the mobile free-to-play industry will adapt to the increasingly complex privacy and legal landscape. With marketers losing much of their control over acquisition, customization and targeting are now shifting towards the game side, allowing for a more tailored end-user experience while playing the game.

• Do you have open positions that you are currently recruiting for?

Indeed – our Hungry Shark team is growing and we have several open positions available at our careers website (https://ubi.li/bcnjobs  or  https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/company/careers/locations/barcelona  )

• What’s the best thing about working at Ubisoft?

It’s hard to pick just one thing, but if I had to choose, I’d say it’s the real impact everyone has on the games we’re developing. We’re a big but still modest team building and running our games, which creates the best environment for our employees to grow by experiencing the full development lifecycle of a game and contributing directly to it.