Focus on
The growth of the Spanish video game industry
Almost 30 years developing video games: Pendulo Studios and Devilish Games
Spanish video game development is experiencing a golden age. One only needs to look at the releases seen over the last few years to appreciate the number of studios that have emerged with truly unprecedented creative potential. However, there was a time when there were only a few studios that could make a living from selling their creations; to understand their history is to understand the cornerstones of our industry. Let's talk about two of the oldest running studios in Spain: Pendulo Studios and Devilish Games.
Both studios, although different in terms of their business strategy, are success stories; they have become a beacon for many other studios venturing into video game development. Two studios that have survived the passage of time, understanding how to adapt to the advance of technology and survive in waters as deep as "crowded" as those of the video game industry. We are proud to have two companies that we admire and that, year after year, surprise us with their proposals.
The desire to create stories and tell them through video games led Ramón Hernáez, Felipe Gómez Pinilla, Rafael Latiegui and Miguel Angel Ramos to create Pendulo Studios in 1994. Since then, the developer has specialized in creating adventure games, becoming the first Spanish studio to dedicate itself to this genre. Their first game, Igor: Objective Uikokahonia, attracted the attention of players with an easy-going style that quickly caught on. Their second release was Hollywood Monsters, which confirmed company's success, putting them in a more than enviable position on the video gaming scene. However, despite the success achieved at the national level, neither of these two titles was released internationally. The one that would be was Runaway: A road adventure, a title that would be Pendulo's international breakthrough and would allow the studio to launch two sequels of the saga. After the conclusion of this saga, the company continued to launch its own installments until 2014, when an agreement was reached with the French company Microids, through which licenses to adapt different franchises to their game system were obtained. These include Blacksad: Under The Skin, Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo and the one you will be able to enjoy this year, Tintin Reporter - Cigars of the Pharaoh.
Devilish Games was founded in 1998 in Villena, Alicante. It was not until 2006 that the company was formally established as Devilish Games - Spherical Pixel S.L. with Enrique David Calatayud and David Ferriz as partners. Its main business area is the development of multi-platform video games for advertising, along with independent video game releases. They have more than 150 developments behind them, collaborating with companies such as Tuenti, Minijuegos, Prosegur and Famosa. Their business model has allowed them to be active all these years, although where they have been able to stand out is in the development of their own video games with titles such as Path To Mnemosyne, Kolumno, Onirike or, the most talked about title this past year, Minabo: A Walk Through Life.