The third installment of the European forum is trading London for sunny, summery Barcelona… sun, sand, sangria – and now a Game QA and localisation event to boot.

More than 180 people met in London last year, where the Game QA and Localisation community focused on automation, hearing some fantastic  talks and examples of the how, when and why of implementation. With that in mind, I’m very pleased to announce some the fantastic speaker line-up for this year, which includes Blizzard, SEGA, King, CCP Games, Bigpoint, Rockstar Lincoln and SCEE to name but a few.

While automation is still a hot subject in both fields, this June with the change of scenery comes a change of perspective. This arena will examine the role and place QA and localisation have within game development. While historically seen as a ‘necessary evil’, these days it feels like it’s finally turned a corner, entering a new era where quality and immersion – both outcomes of effective QA and localisation – are actual selling points for games, even going as far as differentiating against competition. Yet why is it that both internally & externally the old perception of being the outsiders, or not as critical to the end result, still commonly persists?

The event will look to explore that role that these essential functions play in the bigger picture, and to equip ourselves with the ammunition and confidence to sell our functions and demonstrate their ROI; both to studio or publisher execs and – eventually – to the public. Of course, attendees will also discuss the ever-important matters of planning, budgeting, team culture and people management, best practices and further thoughts on automation, continuing the mission to help raise the bar for the quality of QA and localisation throughout the games industry.