eSports City Talks, the event on the future of electronic sports and innovation, arrives in Andorra

Tuesday December 19th 2023

On February 22nd, Andorra la Vella will host the eSports City Talks, an event centered on innovation within the e-sports and videogames community. This day-long event will allow the confluence between students, professionals and videogame lovers from different countries so as to learn, exchange ideas and speak about the future of an industry in continuous evolution.

The eSports City Talks event will be planned around three axes of content: Integration of e-sports into urban development and as an economic engine; the disruptive role of blockchain technology; and the exploration of synergies between gaming and education.

In this sense, the director of Andorra Business, Judit Hidalgo, stated that “it is an event for reflecting while also trying to be a difference maker when compared to ones held in neighboring countries. The event will gather different actors from various countries in order to create differential knowledge”.

The presence of numerous American, French and Spanish speakers is expected, such as: Loren Gold, Executive Vice-president of Greater Raleigh, Edward Tomasi, co-founder of Subnation, Jean Mariotte, CEO Esports Virtual Arena (EVA), Michael Haenisch, General Dircetor of Freaks 4U; Christina Macedo, COO of Ready Games; Jaume Torres, General Director of ESAT; or Christoffer Melin, Director of DreamHack festivals, among others.

These lecturers —and others— will be able to analyze from a variety of perspectives the situation of the gaming world: the implications of games in pedagogic use, teaching, the economy of cities or innovations being worked on in the sector. Attending an event of these characteristics will provide a more complete and broad view of the state of one of the rising sectors in entertainment and the global economy. A sector, which according to Newzoo, generated over 1.38 billion dollars last year.

Moreover, in the last few years, Andorra has become a bastion for videogames. It has recently hosted events such as the eSports City Fest Andorra; an International event held in the country and is included in the most important circuit of amateur electronic sports competitions linked to DreamHack Spain. In addition, the Andorran Government along with Andorra Business, has recently developed a strategic plan to place the Pyrenean country as an actor in the value chain of the industry and the sector of electronic sports. In fact, Andorra has recently become the second European country and fifth in the world to approve a law regulating this sector and the first to approve the development of a strategic plan.

Events such as the eSports City Talks aim to be a catalyst for reflection, discovery and collaboration, gathering a variety of participants in an enriching environment with a place for everyone.