Saudi Arabian company Sandsoft, which specialises in developing, publishing and investing in games for mobile devices, has announced the opening of a new development studio in Barcelona. Barely two years after its arrival in the city, this announcement marks a reinforcement of its establishment in one of the European centres for the video game industry.

Studio Barcelona will be headed by Alexandre Besenval, who will become Vice President of the branch. This office will also have significant weight within the firm, as it will be its European headquarters and will reflect its strategy of becoming a global gaming power.

Management team
Sandsoft's first office in Barcelona started operations in January 2022. The company had previously established links with the video games industry in the city through David Fernández and Pasqual Batalla, who joined the company in mid-2023 as CEO and COO, respectively.

Both Fernández and Batalla came from Socialpoint, a video game subsidiary of US-based Take-Two Interactive. Alexandre Besenval, who will work closely with his former colleagues and the rest of the management team, also gained part of his extensive experience in the sector there.

Job creation
The new studio will reinforce Sandsoft's global development strategy, which focuses on delivering innovative, accessible games. From Barcelona, it will seek to attract local and continent-wide talent to work on the development of new games. According to the forecasts made public by the company, around 60 jobs will be created over the next three years.

Fernández described Barcelona as “a city close to my heart and already home to a thriving community of game creators”, and added, “It is also a perfect place for talented developers from all over Europe to come and be part of what we are building at Sandsoft. As a relatively new company, this is an opportunity to be part of the creation of new games and new IP (intellectual properties) at a time in the industry when new titles are scarce. I can think of no one better than Alexandre to lead this exciting phase of our growth.”

Besenval, for his part, embraced the “ambition to build a truly global and diverse games company” and explained “I was instantly impressed by the team's commitment to creating engaging experiences for gamers around the world, and the opportunity to shape them from an early stage alongside talented colleagues was a huge draw. A studio is only as good as its people, and we want to surround ourselves with the best talent to build a dream team for mobile games.”

^{Photo: Sandsoft}