Portugal’s impact on the games industry has been seriously overlooked. Figures from Portugal’s Trade and Investment Agency, AICEP Portugal Global, show the country’s video game industry is expected to reach revenues of around $258 million dollars in 2024, with an annual growth rate exceeding 11% by 2027. It also has over 7,100 students in areas related to gaming or multimedia.
eGames Lab, funded through the European Commission’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, aims to accelerate this growth. By uniting the expertise of the many gaming organizations across the country, Portugal will be established as a hub for innovation in gaming.
eGames Lab 2023-2024 Midterm Report Highlights
The Midterm Report highlights eGames Lab’s 2024 R&D achievements, showcasing the products, processes, and services (PPS) generated in six key areas:
- Advanced in-game Virtual and Augmented Reality
- Transformational Games for Health and the Green Agenda
- Artificial Intelligence of Interactive Storytelling
- PR e-market ecosystems and network optimization
- Blockchain Technologies and Economics
- Process-Innovation in Game Design and Development
Business Structure
eGames Lab provides the necessary infrastructure and resources to transfer knowledge and foster collaboration between 22 private and public entities, bringing together a scientific board of over 60 academic professionals (that includes 18 PhDs, 14 MScs, and 12 post-docs) from nine different nationalities – including Portugal, Brazil and Canada.
Ongoing Research
eGames Lab’s current work has been mostly structured around Interactive Storytelling, Process innovation and VR for Health and Wellbeing. During the 2023 to 2024 midterm, eGames Lab published over 40 works highlighting advancements in fundamental and industrial research projects across these four pillars.
Notable Works
Periodic Fable in the Wild
A gamified experience contextualising basic concepts about the Periodic Table and organic chemistry through Augmented Reality.
CBT Darts
An immersive VR game where players match statements to cognitive distortions by throwing darts at balloons.
Waste Rush
In collaboration with a local food bank, eGames Lab created a game to teach children ages 8-12 about household food waste reduction practices.
Partiplay
A participatory game design kit for neurodiverse classrooms based on observing robotic ostracism’s effect on children’s prosociality and basic needs.
Events
This report covers two Mega Level Up! Sessions, which were hosted in Funchal:
- Mega Level Up! – 1st Edition (12 – 21 February) involved private presentations and one-to-one mentoring sessions with six special guests. These included Prof. Lene Nielsen from the University of Copenhagen, who specializes in “Personas for Games and Gamification Design“, and Prof. Rui Prada from the Insituto Superior Tecnico (IST), who specializes in “socially interactive agents in games“.
- Mega Level Up! – 2nd Edition (12-21 February) included talks with Prof Patty Kostaka from the University College of London on “Serious Games for Digital Public Health” and Prof Norbert Stretiz from Smart Future Initiative on “the role of AI and human-centred design in future smart hybrid environments“.
Scientific Events: LevelUp!
On the last Tuesday of every month, eGames Lab researchers come together to show their ongoing work, connect with their peers, and forge new ideas at LevelUp! Tuesdays.
eGames Lab also hosts a souped-up version of these events called Mega LevelUp!, where researchers showcase their work at poster sessions, attend workshops with scientific advisors, and attend talks from guest speakers (typically university professors).
About eGames Lab
The eGames Lab is a national cluster established in Portugal (Madeira, Azores, Lisbon and Évora) funded under the Covid-19 Recovery and Resiliance Plan (PRR) after a very competitive two-phase process involving Portugal’s R&D institutes as well as tech and games companies. The international jury selected eGames Lab second out of more than 164 proposals.
With close ties and cooperation with Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh (USA), Amazon Web Services (AWS), GameTech in London (UK) as well as with industry players and consultants from games hub Copenhagen (Denmark).
The consortium also has support from major industry leaders such as Sony PlayStation, Dell’s Alienware and Singapore’s EnjinStarter Launchpad. The consortium will also work with the prestigious University of Centerbury (New Zealand) and well-known studio HitLab NZ.
