ICE Barcelona’s Indie Game Zone to Celebrate Fresh Suppliers

ICE Barcelona 2027 will, for the first time, offer a special zone for independent game developers. The new zone will provide early-stage developers with a platform to present their ideas to the global community of industry stakeholders. ICE Barcelona Will Provide Industry Newcomers with Greater Visibility World Gaming, which organizes ICE Barcelona, confirmed that it plans to host a special Indie Game Zone at the 2027 edition of the show. The new zone will be a curated area withing the new Technology and Innovation Hall and will be all about featuring independent studios and early-stage projects. The Indie Game Zone is targeted at developers that have been operating for no more than 10 years and have yet to achieve the visibility of some of the established industry suppliers. According to World Gaming, providing such products with a platform will provide more visibility to new and potentially innovative concepts. In order to showcase their products, participants can lease modular “pods” starting from EUR 12,500. Each pod includes a branded cabinet, TV display, logo placement, stools, and a 500K electrical socket. Registered products will also be listed on the official ICE website. Indie Game Zone exhibitors will also have their products featured across ICE marketing, including a three-game feature in an Indie Games Showcase campaign and placement in the Slots News newsletter. To top it all off, exhibitors will be included in guided stand tours. A “Real Platform” for Emerging Innovators Alex Pratt, World Gaming’s group managing director, commented on the new zone, explaining that its goal is to benefit emerging studios, providing them with a “real platform at ICE.” According to him, this will be a major boost, allowing newcomer studios to achieve visibility that would usually take years to earn. We built this because the industry’s next big thing is often coming from teams nobody’s heard of yet, and ICE should be the place where operators and decision makers find them first. Alex Pratt, group MD, World Gaming As mentioned, companies interested in displaying at the new Indie Game Zone must have been operating for no more than 10 years. In addition to that, they must not be exhibiting at ICE or iGB Live at the same time and must not be subsidiaries of larger companies. These rules seek to ensure that the Indie Game Zone’s focus is on real industry newcomers with fresh ideas. Applications for the new zone are now open.