IOI Interactive Barcelona studio to grow until almost 200 people

[Yurinka]

IOI Interactive Barcelona, created a handful years ago, had until now around 30 workers but will open 150 job positions to quickly grow until 180 workers. They worked on Hitman 3, an upcoming 007 game and in unannounced stuff. He got visited by the Minister of Business and Work of the regional government and (recently appointed, first person in the regional government that comes from the videogames industry) the Secretary for Digital Policies.

He claimed that the region became the top 1 in foreign investment of the EU, that 40% of the top gaming companies have presence in the region and that are working to get more investment for the region.

IOI Barcelona is leaded by former Ubisoft Barcelona (Rainbow 6 Siege, many AC games, BGE2 etc.) staff and has very talented or experiencied people who comes from other local or foreign AAA or indie studios.

Press release from the regional government (language is Catalan, just in case you want to translate it): https://www.accio.gencat.cat/ca/acc...ctive-creara-150-llocs-de-treball-a-Barcelona

They published some photos of the visit, where can be seen some artwork and WIP screens just in case you're curious and want to try to spot some hint about upcoming stuff:

Fun fact: I know personally some leading staff from the team and the Secretary. Looking forward to what they can do.

Some data about the videogame sector in Barcelona / Catalonia region:

https://www.accio.gencat.cat/web/.content/bancconeixement/documents/pindoles/Video-Games-Sector-Snapshot.pdf

 

[Bryank75]

Very cool, wonder if it is Hitman, Bond or something new they are working on.... or simply as support.

Either way it is great. Love IOI, hope they are not bought by anyone.

 

[Yurinka]

Very cool, wonder if it is Hitman, Bond or something new they are working on.... or simply as support.

Either way it is great. Love IOI, hope they are not bought by anyone.

AAA videogames are almost, almost always codeveloped by multiple studios, even if in most of the cases companies only mention the lead studio in marketing or PR. In this cases, as far as I know the multiple IOI teams they have in multiple countries work together in the different projects the company is working on.

This Barcelona team did work in Hitman 3 in a support role, so now should be working in 007 and their unannounced stuff pretty likely also in support role until, I assume, they become way bigger and earn trust after more years working for them on successful stuff. As happened before in other Barcelona studios of other big companies like Ubisoft or Gameloft. Even if other studios from big companies like THQ Nordic or King, or the local mobile studio bought by Take 2, directly started leading their own games.

 

[EDMIX]

A very strong studio, not surprised at the increase of staff with a bond game on the way.

 

[peter42O]

I wonder if this is the 007 game or the rumored game under Microsoft which is some kind of dragon themed IP.

 

[Sircaw]

The first thing that popped up in my mind when i saw the thread was this.

Anyone remember this, it was amazing.

 

[alphachino]

I love IO Interactive Interactive.

 

[Yurinka]

I wonder if this is the 007 game or the rumored game under Microsoft which is some kind of dragon themed IP.

The official info is that this team works with the other IOI studios on their different projects, so they did work on Hitman 3 and now are working/will be working on 007 and future unannounced stuff (they are starting to work on an unannounced new IP).

The dragon thing partnering with MS was only a rumor from the interwebs. Who knows if it's true or not. I don't know it and if I'd knew it I wouldn't share it.

From the press release from the local government:
https://www.accio.gencat.cat/ca/acc...ctive-creara-150-llocs-de-treball-a-Barcelona

"En el marc d’aquest pla de creixement, la companyia contractarà programadors, artistes, animadors, dissenyadors de joc i de so per desenvolupar videojocs des de Barcelona en col·laboració amb els estudis de l’empresa a Cophenaguen (Dinamarca) i Malmö (Suècia).

Fins ara, des de la capital catalana -on actualment compta amb una trentena de treballadors-, IO Interactive ha creat videojocs de gran pressupost com els de la saga ‘Hitman’. Es tracta de produccions anomenades AAA, una categoria que fa referència als videojocs amb més categoria a la indústria per a consoles i ordinadors que tenen una qualitat gràfica, jugabilitat, so, guió i extensió més elevada, que acostumen a tenir continuïtat a través de sagues i sovint s’adapten en format de pel·lícules o sèries. Ara, l’estudi també ha començat a treballar en el desenvolupament del primer videojoc de ‘James Bond’ dels darrers quinze anys."

In English means:
"Within the context of this growth plan, the company will hire programmers, artists, animators, game and sound designers to develop video games from Barcelona in collaboration with the company's studios in Cophenagen (Denmark) and Malmo (Sweden).

So far, from the Catalan capital - where it currently has about thirty workers - IO Interactive has created big-budget video games like the Hitman series. These are productions called AAA, a category that refers to video games with the highest category in the industry for consoles and computers that have a higher graphic quality, gameplay, sound, script and extension, that tend to have continuity through sagas and are often adapted in film or series format. Now, the studio has also begun work on developing the first "James Bond" video game of the past fifteen years."