Uruguay Video Games Pitch Day: a gateway to the global market for Uruguayan video games

Pitch Day is now a fundamental platform for the internationalization of Uruguayan video games. Organized by Uruguay XXI, in collaboration with the Uruguayan Chamber of Video Game Developers (CAVI), the event brought together virtually 16 national studios that presented their projects before a panel of 22 high-profile international publishers and investors, including representatives from companies such as Google, Raw Fury (Sweden), Gaijin Entertainment (Hungary) and Rocket Ride Games (Canada).

This space offered the possibility of gauging the interest of essential players in the sector in the region and was the closing of an intensive preparation process known as “Road to Pitch Day,” which is now in its fourth edition and in which Uruguayan developers receive training from Pex Pison, who has held positions as Production Manager at Hyper Luminal Games (UK), Business Development Manager at Pomelo Games and CEO of Trojan Chicken. Thanks to this training, the studios were able to perfect their presentations and improve their skills to showcase their projects globally.

A key opportunity for the development of the industry
Santiago Auscarriaga, from Polynerve Games, who presented the game World Reforged, highlighted the positive impact of the training. “It was very practical to improve the presentation of video games.” The experience of facing a panel of international investors not only allowed Uruguayan talent to be showcased but also offered studios a valuable perspective on the commercial potential of their projects as a result of the feedback they received from the panel.

Fernando Rivero from Shiny Moon Games saw the instance as an engine for growth. “It has helped us grow and prepare for the next challenges. We are grateful to the event’s organizer for the opportunities created.” His team presented the game Be My Star.

For small studios, such as Fun Control, which presented Bunnerly, the process was key in its development. Sofia Collazo explained how participation helped them change their approach. “So far, our experience has been a process of ‘trial and error’ (...) However, participating in Road to Pitch Day has been an invaluable learning experience. It has made us rethink our work several times and learn to see ourselves not only as passionate creators but also as marketers of our project. We faced difficult challenges, but it left us eager to continue applying what we have learned,” she said.

For his part, Andres Kent, from Luminara Games, highlighted how the event helped them refine critical elements of their game Project Luna. “I found the experience very enriching. It helped us clarify some things about our project that we had not fully defined, such as the target audience, genre, competition, budget, and to incorporate tools to find an investor,” he said.

Nicolás Berrogorry, from Exceed, shared his experience with Halted. “The Pitch Day instance is always an invaluable experience, a way to test the project and the business that leads to the studio’s growth.”

For studios like MOYVA, the event offered crucial training. “We received great training on how to organize our project to achieve a presentation with better impact, and then we presented it to a panel of international publishers with much experience in the field,” said Joaquín Peirano, who presented Financial Tycoon. His colleague Álvaro Cabrera added that the experience was “incredible.” “It allowed us to learn how to present our financial education project more attractively,” he said.

Joaquín Volonté of Hipocampo, who presented Armonia, expressed how the experience helped him polish his vision. “It allowed me to go deeper into aspects one often does not consider. Thanks to this training, I feel much more prepared to present my project with a clearer and more concrete vision of the product I am developing”, he said. At the same time, the representative of Piratas del Plata, Sofía Micheloni, concluded that it was ‘a great experience of growth and exposure’.

Among the 22 investors and publishers were Qubyte Interactive and Nuuvem from Brazil, Buldogo Games from Argentina, Ludimus from Japan, Akupara Games, Xsolla, Google, Cleveland Game Devs, Serenity Forge and Whitethorn Games from the U.S., Viva Studios from Spain, Gaijin Entertainment from Hungary, Dotemu from France, Rocket Ride Games from Canada, Lesta and Narwahal Accelerator from Russia, Greenman Gaming from Great Britain, Raw Fury from Sweden, No Gravity Games from Poland, Riyadh Angel Syndicate and MBC Group from Saudi Arabia, Iceberg Interactive from the Netherlands.

These international referents’ participation resulted from sustained networking and prospecting work carried out by Uruguay XXI at events such as the Game Developers Conference (GDC), Big Festival, and Eva.

Find out more about these and other games and studios from Uruguay at Uruguay Video Games.