South Korean game and investment company Smilegate said Friday it has established its first overseas base in Barcelona, Spain.

Smilegate Barcelona will serve as a springboard for the company’s deepening competition against global game houses in the console games field.

“With Smilegate Barcelona as the bridgehead, we will kick spur the development of new intellectual properties that are competitive in the global market,” a Smilegate official said.

The affiliate will focus on developing games for next-generation consoles such as the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X.

Their console games will be AAA-level open world genre, and to this end Smilegate has formed its Barcelona team with developers from Rockstar Games, Ubisoft and Crytek.

The multinational team -- which comprises developers from the US, France, the UK, Norway and Spain -- will bring forth games that users have never experienced before, Smilegate said.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)