Irish game designer Owen Harris pumped his fists in the air as he bounded up to the stage to collect his prize – a brand-new Kindle Fire. If you didn’t know his name had been drawn at random as part of a giveaway concluding the first-annual Games Ireland Gathering, hosted at Dublin’s Gibson Hotel last Wednesday, you’d assume he’d just won an audience choice award. The cheering and applause from the crowd was that raucous.
About 30 minutes earlier Harris had charmed the crowd of students, aspiring developers and Irish game industry professionals with the story of how his fledgling studio, bitSmith, recently hit the crowdfunding target for its debut project Kú – a Zelda-inspired game for the iPad based on Irish mythology – in just 68 hours. His testimonial, along with four other indie developers who presented during the event’s game showcase, stoked in the room a sense of possibility. People are making videogames in Ireland, and there’s a growing scene ready to welcome anybody who cares to do likewise.
“The sense of community is tremendous,” says Harris. “Twenty game developers spent the evening together after the event, making plans for collaborations and sharing our stories and resources. We even recorded a one-hour podcast in the back of the pub we were in.”
The one-day conference was organised by local trade association Games Ireland - the Celtic TIGA, if you will - that represents Ireland’s game industry. And they couldn’t have picked a more appropriate giveaway prize than a Kindle Fire. Ireland’s game industry has all the kindling you could hope for. Games Ireland is just figuring out ways to pile it up and strike a match.
All the major game publishers have a presence in Ireland, if only to address localisation and customer support. There’s also a strong technology emphasis. Dublin is home to the European headquarters of multinationals such as Google, Facebook, HP, Microsoft and others. Local universities such as Trinity College Dublin offer a spate of game design courses. And last October, Irish prime minister Enda Kenny announced plans to lure more game development to the local economy through flexible incentives ranging from tax breaks to R&D and project grants.
From left to right: Paul Hayes (Games Ireland), David Sweeney (Games Ireland), Anna Scally (KPMG), Jeanne Kelly (Mason Hayes & Curran), Ray Walsh (Enterprise Ireland)
“There’s a real momentum around games in Ireland that’s been building for the past year or two,” says David Sweeney, CEO of Games Ireland. “We formed Games Ireland about 18 months ago but it really got on its feet last May when we went into parliament, spoke to a lot of ministers, TDs, about 70 people. The game industry was mentioned in Ireland’s budget, it was mentioned in the jobs plan this week. The government has said a lot of the right things by commissioning this action-plan report, but we want to see action now.”
Games Ireland Gathering 2012 offered a potent reminder of the game industry’s potential for job creation in Ireland. Companies such as PopCap Games, Activision Blizzard, Big Fish Games and Havok were at the event recruiting for approximately 350 jobs listings.
“We have a very young population in Ireland, says Paul Breslin, general manager of PopCap’s Dublin operations. “Universities have been free for many years - that may change now - but a lot of people here go to college, come out with degrees. It’s a very youthful, energetic population that likes embracing technology. At PopCap we’ve been able to find very talented engineers, developers and coders here in Ireland.”