Redcatpig’s Marco Bettencourt on making games in The Azores

Portugal is quietly building its reputation as a country serious about its homegrown games industry, with studios popping up across the country and organisations like eGames Lab raising its global profile.

Redcatpig, a member of the eGames Lab Consortium, has grown from its home in the Azores, an archipelago of nine volcanic islands over 900 miles west of Lisbon.

We spoke with CEO and founder Marco Bettencourt about making games in Portugal's growing dev scene, and why the Azores turned out to be the right place to do it.

Tell us about where the development process is with your two upcoming games, Hovershock and KEO.

KEO has been on quite a ride. We won the PlayStation Talents Award in 2018, published on Steam Early Access in 2021, reached over 2 million downloads, and learned a lot about what worked and what didn't. Right now, we're focused on polishing the meta-game: progression systems, vehicle unlocks, cosmetics, while making sure the onboarding experience doesn't lose people in the first five minutes. That last part is more complicated than it sounds.

HoverShock is at an earlier stage. We showed it at The Azores Gamefest recently and had 150+ people hands-on. People kept saying it was easy to pick up, but they wanted to keep playing, with some coming back multiple times.

It's heartwarming to see parents playing with their children on splitscreen, just like we used to when we were younger. We still need to build out the card collection system, skill trees, customisation mechanics, social features, and a proper tutorial. We're looking at a 2027 launch window, so keep an eye out.

When you came up with the ideas for these games, what kind of process did you use? Is it “I’ve got a cool idea - let’s try it”, or is it based on research and data, or a mix of both?

It always starts with something we want to play ourselves. With KEO, Bryan, João, and I looked at the vehicular combat space and noticed there wasn't a modern, genre-defining game doing what Twisted Metal and Destruction Derby did years ago. Most games in that space had gone dark and gritty. We wanted something more vibrant, a post-apocalyptic world that still felt fun to be in.

But we're not just going on vibes. Once we have the concept, we dig into the data. We look at what's performing on Steam, what genres are underserved, and where there's a gap between player interest and available titles. For KEO, arena combat had an audience, but nobody was giving the vehicle combat crowd a modern, accessible multiplayer game.

Personal excitement plus a clear market gap. That combination gives us the confidence to commit years of work to something. HoverShock followed the same logic. Arena shooters are everywhere, but they're all ground units. We thought: what if we take it to the skies?

Both games are different takes on vehicular combat. What made you decide to work on the two at the same time? Have you been able to share code and/or assets between the games?

On paper they sound similar, but they play completely differently. KEO is a ground-based vehicular combat built on Unity. HoverShock is aerial drone combat in vibrant 3D arenas built on Unreal. Working across both engines was crucial to building expertise inside the team. 

Running both at the same time wasn't originally the plan; it just happened because our team grew and we had the capacity. There are shared learnings, especially on networking and multiplayer infrastructure. When you solve a netcode problem in one game, that knowledge transfers across. But the games themselves, the art, gameplay systems, and progression design, are entirely separate.

Redcatpig is like many small indie studios in that you do work-for-hire alongside your own projects. Has the uncertainty in the industry over the past few years changed your approach to the work you do?

The dual model with original IP and co-development is what keeps us stable. When one side gets quiet, the other picks up. That's been especially important the last two years, with all the layoffs and project cancellations across the industry.

Many studios have reduced their internal teams but still need to ship games, which means more outsourcing and partnerships. We do porting, UI/UX design, multiplayer systems, remakes, staff augmentation and co-development. We recently ported Planet of Lana from Nintendo Switch to iOS and Android. Not every studio wants to build an internal team for mobile porting, so we end up becoming experts at it. We're also being more selective about which co-dev projects we take. We want work that makes our team better and choose projects that stretch our capabilities or expose us to new tech.

Is it unusual to be a games developer in the Azores? What’s the game scene like over there?

When we started in 2019, there was no games scene in the Azores. We were it. Three guys on Terceira Island, making video games from one of the most remote places in Europe. People thought we were a bit crazy, and they weren't wrong.

Today, we have 40+ people from 10 nationalities, offices on the island, in Lisbon, and in Madeira, and games distributed in over 120 countries. The European Commission has cited us as an example of innovation in rural areas. Still unusual, but much less so than six years ago.

The Azores give us something hard to find in Lisbon, London, or LA: focus. We just make games. Convincing a senior developer to move to an island in the Atlantic isn't always easy, so we became a "Remote Positive Company." The people who do come here tend to stay, because the quality of life is hard to beat. There's potential here for more studios and tech companies, and we're working with the local government to make that happen.

Can you give us a sense of how proactive the Portuguese government has been in supporting the games industry there?

Portugal has made progress, but we're still behind when it comes to dedicated support for the games industry. There's no specific tax relief for game development in Portugal, unlike in other countries. That's a gap.

Where we have benefited is through broader innovation and R&D programs. We're recognised by ANI — the National Innovation Agency — with SIFIDE status for our R&D work. We're part of the eGames Lab consortium, a PRR-funded project connecting 22 entities between companies, universities, and R&D institutions to push the Portuguese games ecosystem forward. That's meaningful because it creates real infrastructure and collaboration, not just grants.

AICEP - Portuguese Trade & Investment Agency gave us an honourable mention in 2024, which opened doors internationally. But what the Portuguese games industry really needs is a dedicated policy that says "we take this sector seriously, and here's the tax framework and incentive structure to prove it." The talent is here. The creativity is here. The policy needs to catch up. Fortunately, the Regional Government of the Azores is mindful of our needs, and we have been working together to improve conditions in the region and enhance the islands' attractiveness as a tech and gaming hub.

What’s the perception of Portugal and Portuguese games companies at the events you go to?

Most people don't have a perception of Portuguese game companies, because most people don't know we exist. That's both a challenge and an opportunity.

When people learn where we're from, the reaction is almost always positive surprise. "You're making games from the Azores?" It's the perfect icebreaker. Nobody thinks we're less capable, but we have to work harder to get in the room. A studio from Stockholm or Montreal walks in with instant credibility. We earn ours project by project.

I want people to see "Portugal" at a games conference and think "there's good work coming out of there." Not because of one studio, but because of ten or twenty. We're founding members of APVP and attend events alongside other Portuguese studios through eGames Lab. The delegation grows every year. Portugal punches above its weight in music, film, and design. Games are next. We're just earlier in that story than we'd like to be.