He created a games micro-enterprise in General Rodríguez and now sells video games in China

Mobile video games are all the rage in terms of the number of players and earnings, quantified in 203 billion dollars globally in 2022, according to gaming consultancy Newzoo. In this context, a developer of General Rodríguez created a micro company to compete on the market and managed to charm a Beijing giant with his titles.

“As a boy I used to play ball and cycle around the neighborhood. Now the children are born with a different head: my two-year-old granddaughter is already playing with her cell phone “, says Carlos Sánchez, video game programmer and one of the winners of the latest edition of Idea tu Videojuego (ITV)the municipality’s program to find new talents in the world of play.

That childhood at General Rodríguez, where he lived all his life, changed at the age of 8 when his parents gave him a console Family game -The NES clone of Nintendo- and met a game that marked generations: Mario Bros.

Carlos has fully immersed himself in that lively world to never leave it again, and now, at 36, he already has his own business, always thinking of continuing to train and grow, and with such determination that his work has attracted the attention of a Chinese company to be a partner in a video game of their own creation.

It was at the age of 20 when he decided to start studying programming. In the beginning it was the Punto Net language: no games. He took a freelance course at Masters Motors where he was taught how to design his own game. “I liked it there. I want to keep working on this, ”he thought.

The next step was to found his own business. JAK games It bears the initials of the three members of the Sánchez family: “J” for Javier (his name is Carlos Javier), “A” for Ailín (“my baby”) and “K” for Karina (“my lady”). “It had to be something short and easy. Convincing and with a good logo, ”she explains.

Carlos soon began uploading his games to the Google Play Store and contacting organizations and companies in the sector. In 2020 he became the sole member of the ADVA (Association of Argentine Video Game Developers) and in the course of 2021 has released 3 video games which already add more than a thousand downloads.

Carlos Sánchez, winner of Idea tu Videojuego (ITV)

In September and October, on the advice of ADVA, Carlos participated in the ITV Game Jam (Ideá Tu Video) organized by the General Directorate of Youth Policies, dependent on the Ministry of Economic Development and Production of Buenos Aires.

Carlos tried to continue training in that world he was already passionate about. As part of the program he had to form a team to develop a game. The result was Kospi, one of the three winning projects. It was one of the best in terms of graphics and gameplay.

“I’ve always worked alone. And in the Game Jam I found myself with the challenge of forming a team where all the members would contribute their knowledge to the project. Learning to work as a team was a great lesson I learned in that program, ”she said.

This is how Nico Mirabella (artist) and Jean Villegas (musician) joined the staff of JAK Games. And Alejandro Garro (programmer) and Agustín (artist) and Cristian “Cyan” (musician) form a secondary support group and permanent consultation.

Parallel to Game Jam ITV, Carlos was contacted by the Chinese distributor of video games for mobile devices Yodo1 Games who had been particularly interested in one of his games: The Bottle challenge. The title for Android phones and tablets is to stack bottles on tables and books without falling off the cliff.

“When the communication is over you don’t know how I cried. I couldn’t talk about the thrill of telling my family what had happened, “he explained to Clarín.

The deal meant for him a quantum leap in money he receives for every video game download: “It’s worth nothing here. Over there or in Europe, or anywhere in the world where someone downloads the game, it’s worth double or more. “

Rowing against the current is a constant in Carlos’ life. Since he still cannot live and support his family with his developments, works every day in an SME that designs office furniture. “I have a motor disability and it’s really hard for me to go to work every day. I dream of being able to dedicate myself one day exclusively to what I like and am passionate about ”, she confesses.

And he continues: “If you ask me, I don’t know anything about Netflix. I come home and when I’m not with my wife and daughter I start planning and studying. I’m not standing still“.

In that ongoing formation you speak of, it is necessary to include a Clinic field, in which he learned how to present a project to a potential investor in 15 minutes. And the scholarship he is managing to get the title of University expert in UTN video game programming. “I need college approval. The first thing they ask you when you present a project is what university studies do you have? ”, She reasons.

He also finds time to spend with his 10-year-old daughter Ailín, who suffers from autism. “She loves to draw and you don’t know how fast she learns”, she turns her on. Furthermore, ADVA has provided him with an accountant to administratively arrange his business and this is how JAK Games is already registered with AFIP as an SME.

Carlos is currently developing a Voxer DEA game which has the particularity that the protagonist is a girl. “We wanted to do something different, something with a gender perspective,” he describes. He aims for his projects to be of rapid resolution, for a user to reproduce it by queuing to pay for something or traveling by bus.

For now, its developments are limited to cell phones. Moving to the PC or the world of consoles, such as PlayStation, Nintendo or Xbox, would mean having more resources and more professionals that you currently don’t have.

However, his dream is oriented work for children. He believes the future of his business lies in marketing through video games. And he sees great opportunities in the growing world of virtual reality.

SL