The entertainment industry has become a truly global business in recent years, and Bulgaria has contributed to it in some ways that not everyone is aware of. For example, did you know about the movies that have been filmed here and the games that Bulgarian developers created here? The following are recent releases that have links to Bulgaria that might not be immediately obvious.

Moo Lander and Other Games Created Here

There has been talk of Bulgaria becoming a video game development hub like Poland in the future, and the country certainly has a strong record of producing interesting, popular games such as several titles from the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Assassin's Creed Rogue, and Assassin's Creed III: Liberation were all created by a global Ubisoft team of developers including members in Sofia.

Sofia Game Jam Week is the highlight of the year for game developers in the country and it’s been attracting a lot of interest in the last few years, with a special November edition taking place in 2022 thanks to the success its enjoyed so far. But we need to head to the city of Plovdiv to find The Sixth Hammer, which is an independent game studio responsible for the launch of Moo Lander earlier this year. They spent a total of six years creating this game, which is set in space, features intergalactic cows, and has been a hit since its release in March.

Along with video games, the casino games market has grown significantly in the last few years, and Bulgaria has been playing a big part in this growth as well. Work on new games is carried out in Bulgaria on behalf of developers such as Evolution, Anakatech, and Weiner Games. In addition, earlier in 2022 Pragmatic Play announced the opening of a live casino studio in the country, where human dealers will be beamed from the studio in Sofia to players across the planet as they run games.   

Looking at the list of the main operators in New Zealand, big names like Rizk, Casumo, and Guts all have live dealers from the top developers, so it’s possible that they all add the new Bulgaria-based games to their portfolios. These sites offer free spins for new players without the need for a deposit, so it’s easy to see why they’re growing in size and need new games from fresh locations. Ezugi is another of the big-name developers, and they led the way with a live casino studio in Varna several years ago, so the country already has experience with this type of work.

Source: Nu Image

Bulgaria is Growing as a Filming Location

There’s every chance that you spot Bulgaria in one of this year’s movies, as it’s been used extensively as a filming location even for films that aren’t set here. For example, Prey for the Devil is a film about an increase in the number of demonic possession and stars the likes of Colin Salmon. Jacqueline Byers, and Christian Navarro. Released at the end of October this year it features Byers in the role of Sister Ann, a nun who is trained to perform exorcisms. It was mainly filmed at the Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia in 2020.  

Another movie that was filmed here is called Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This is the ninth film in the famous slasher movie franchise and the action takes place decades after the original, but still features the Leatherface character. The shooting was carried out in Bulgaria, with director David Blue Garcia commenting that trying to make it look like Texas was a challenge, and they eventually built a fake town that emulated West Texas fairly well.

Also filmed in Bulgaria, Barbarian is a horror thriller that debuted at San Diego Comic-Con earlier in 2022. The main filming took place in Sofia, with some additional scenes captured in Detroit. Barbarian was something of a surprise hit, although the majority of the viewers who watched it probably didn’t realize that they were watching a part of Bulgaria most of the time.

These examples show us just a few of the ways that Bulgaria has been involved in the global entertainment industry lately, and it’s clear that there is more to come in these and other ways.