Back from Padel World Summit 2026: a stand that never emptied
Back home, completely drained
Three days at Padel World Summit 2026 in Barcelona, three days speaking nonstop, three days watching strangers grab a controller and discover Padel Rivals for the first time. We came back wiped out, the kind of tired you only get from doing a lot of things you actually wanted to do. The summit treated us very, very well.
We landed at Fira de Barcelona on Tuesday afternoon to set the stand up. By Wednesday morning, the innovation startups area opened. From that moment until Friday, our spot barely had any breathing room.
A stand that never emptied
The plan was simple: one screen, one controller, the game running live, and us behind the table ready to talk. What was not in the plan was the queue.
People came to play. People came to ask. People came to bring a friend, came back the next morning, came again on the last day to try the online. The stand of Padel Rivals was, all three days, one of the busiest of the startup area. We talked to brands, racket and ball manufacturers, club owners, federations, investors, players, padel content creators, journalists and, above all, players who at the end of every match repeated the same line in different languages: "I want this game already".
Visitors talking and playing at the Krokanti Games stand at Padel World Summit 2026 in Barcelona
The feedback on the game has been really good. People get the arcade pitch the moment they see the first rally. They pick up the controls fast. A smile slips out when they land a smash off the back wall. That, more than any pitch deck, is what tells us the direction is right.
Pitch at the Innovation Arena Stage
On Wednesday we had a 10 minute slot at the Innovation Arena Stage. Same message we have been polishing all year: Padel Rivals, the first padel video game for PC and consoles. Market size, growth of padel, gap in the catalog, what the game looks like today, where it is heading.
Edgar Gómez pitching Padel Rivals at the Innovation Arena Stage of Padel World Summit 2026 in Barcelona
Pitching on a stage like this, in front of an industry audience that has zero patience for filler, sharpens everything. You step off the stage knowing exactly which slides land and which ones still need work.
Afterhours with investors and founders
On Wednesday night, the organisers ran an afterhours event specifically for the selected startups, investors from the padel sector and other founders. Outdoors, drinks in hand, conversations that move at a different speed than the show floor.
Afterhours networking event at Padel World Summit 2026 with investors and startup founders
Honestly, this is where some of the most useful conversations of the whole week happened. You sit down with someone who runs a chain of clubs, with someone who has invested in three padel companies in the last two years, with someone who built a sportstech app from zero, and you swap real notes. No slides, no pitching voice. Just the trade.
On TV: TVE interview for "El segon cafè"
On Thursday morning, TVE stopped by the stand. The team from "El segon cafè" was filming around the summit and decided Padel Rivals was, in their words, "a very innovative idea". They sat us in front of the camera and we talked about the game, the studio and what padel and video games have in common.
TVE journalist interviewing Edgar Gómez about Padel Rivals at Padel World Summit 2026
You can watch the segment on Acceso (Padel Rivals shows up around minute 2:44). Seeing the studio name on national television is still a strange thing to write down.
A longer chat: the interview we are most proud of
Beyond TV, we also sat down for a much longer interview with a content creator from the padel media space. The conversation walks through the studio's story, the early days of Padel Rivals, the arcade design choices, and what is coming next. It is, by a fair margin, the best interview we have done so far.
Social: the post that took off
In parallel, one of the Instagram posts about Padel Rivals at the summit hit a reach we are not used to yet. Reels of the gameplay shared by accounts well outside our usual radius, lots of new Steam wishlists, lots of new Discord members in a single afternoon.
If you missed it, here is the post on Instagram. And if you are not yet following, drop by our Instagram for the daily.
What we are taking home
A few headlines:
- Conversations are open with several brands, investors and clubs we met in Barcelona. A few of them are already in follow up calls.
- The arcade direction is right. Real players playing the game in real time is the strongest signal we could get.
- There is still a lot to polish. The feedback on what does not work yet has been useful in a brutally honest way.
- The studio is starting to be on the map. No longer as a curiosity, but as another player in this segment.
Next stop: OWN Valencia
In July we are back in València for OWN Valencia, the city's Gaming and Esports festival. The stand we won at the Coworking EOI Demoday is waiting. Same demo, different audience, hometown crowd.
Stay close to Padel Rivals
If you want to follow this run from up close, the best ways:
A huge thank you to the Padel World Summit team for putting together a summit that, frankly, delivered well above expectations for an indie studio like us. To every person who stopped at the stand, sat in front of the screen, asked a question or sent us a follow up message: we read all of it. The next few months are going to be very busy, and that is exactly how we like it.
The Krokanti Games Team
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