Craig Walsh Highlights Growth of the Irish Games Industry in 2024 | Winter Spectacular 2024
2024 has been an enormous year of positive change for the Gaming Industry in Ireland, although the visibility of those changes may not be obvious to the average person. The reason for this of course is that behind the scenes, many different groups and organisations have been working together to improve the state of the local industry.
IMIRT, alongside Ardán, Northern Ireland Screen, Screen Ireland/FÍS Éireann, Creative Europe Desk Ireland - MEDIA Office, and many other companies, teams, and individuals that are a part of the games industry all collectively worked together to produce some amazing events, initiatives, grants of funding for the burgeoning teams living and working in
Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, alongside a steady release of new games.
Kicking off the year was FÍS Games Summit 2024 in April, the fourth event of its kind, organised by Ardán. The event was host to some incredible guest speakers from across the industry travelling to Galway City on the West Coast of Ireland to give talks to and network with everyone from heads of corporations to local independent developers.
While the speeches given by the guests were incredible, what was even more incredible was the announcement of funding of IMIRT by Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann, with the intent to appoint a CEO to work on behalf of its members and the wider industry here, as well as the announcement of Indie Dev 2024 and the Wild Galway Games Initiative.
Alan Duggan, CEO of Ardán, alongside the logo for FÍS Games Summit 2024.
Alan Duggan, CEO of Ardán, had this to say about FÍS Games Summit :
“In 2024 we have seen some great steps forward for the Irish Games industry, including the hiring of an IMIRT CEO, the first Wild Galway Games Incubator, and amazing support in the form of the IndieDev Prototype Fund. The FÍS Games Summit had a fantastic slate of speakers this year and overall we saw a great increase in support for games development initiatives in the country. All of this points towards a bright future for game development in Ireland in the months and years ahead.”
Dwarvein, a game where you play as a treasure-seeking dwarf, by AueSip saw a release to quite positive reviews, and Pallas Projects helped NAMACO produce Mega Dreoilín, a game where the housing crisis in Ireland was transformed into a retro-style video game in the same vein as early Sega Mega Drive titles, with accompanying artwork.
Also in April, IMIRT hosted two workshops, Press Start- An Indie Dev Workshop, and Code Magic!
For the former, IMIRT, in partnership with Black Shamrock - A Virtuos Studio, Cultural and Creative Industries Skillnet and Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann, hosted an in-person workshop at the Guinness Enterprise Centre in Dublin to help anyone interested in becoming independent developers to start their journey of making games.
For the latter, this workshop was more focused on the programming side of game development, and how interesting tech may be leveraged to produce a fun and interesting experience inside of a game.
Next, in May, was the return of an event that has been on hiatus for the previous few years, Run For The Border! Initially started as a way for game developers to meet and relax with their peers from across the island of Ireland, the event this year saw a massive amount of support, with Creative Europe Desk Ireland - MEDIA Office, Northern Ireland Screen, Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann, Ardán, Spooky Doorway, Italic Pig, and Hypixel Studios (exhales-inhales) all throwing their weight behind a fun event meant to get us collaborating more closely.
At this event, some incredible announcements were made, including the announcement of the first-ever CEO for IMIRT, Colm Larkin. As the head of Gambrinous Studio in Dublin and one of the founding members of IMIRT back in 2015, Colm has continued to work for game developers across Ireland and beyond and has given several interviews to the media as well as submitting a document to the Government of Ireland on behalf of IMIRT before the announcement of this year’s government budget, in the hopes of extending a tax credit for companies working in the industry here.
Other announcements included details about Indie Dev 2024, the first-of-its-kind funding for prototype game development in the Republic of Ireland. Seven teams across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland were selected from amongst dozens of teams to participate in a fresh venture designed to give new teams and new projects financial support, office space, and mentorship in order to produce more locally created Intellectual Properties (IPs).
The end of May saw the release of the highly anticipated [ECHOSTASIS], the final game in a trilogy of five produced by independent game developer Jamie Gavin of Enigma Studio.
Almost four years in the making, the release of the game was an incredible moment for Gavin, who has built up an impressive following around his games that challenge our relationship with technology, as well as with the gaming medium itself.
Enigma Studio logo.
Gavin had this to say about finishing and launching the game :
“After four years wrapped up in the seemingly insurmountable task of completing this game, talking about "the release of [ECHOSTASIS]" is something that still seems wild to me!
With the game having to be responsible for putting a bow on an entire trilogy's worth of established themes while also challenging them with new themes of its own, releasing a conclusion worthy of all the support I've gotten throughout the years-long felt as though an implausible pipe dream.
This naturally means that the overwhelmingly positive reception it's received from players since its late May release fills me with a gratitude that I struggle to put into words. While getting the game out in front of people's eyes with my little resources still proves challenging, the players who HAVE dug into its countless layers of meta-fiction have been rewarded with what many consider to be a deep and emotionally resonant piece of media.”
The Wild Galway Games Initiative was reincarnated in 2024 as the Wild Galway Games Incubator, a programme aimed at giving already existing teams or solo devs the office space and mentorship to further bring their project along to a finished product.
Ardán – in association with Galway City Council, Creative Ireland, CREW, IMIRT, the Local Enterprise Office Galway, and Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann, launched the programme alongside the Indie Dev 2024 programme. While the programmes are operated and funded by many similar groups, Indie Dev 2024 was designed to support teams of up to five, while the Wild Galway Games Incubator was more focused on individuals and helping them gain experience in their chosen fields.
The logo for Cruinniú na nÓg Festival in June 2024.
Following Run For The Border, in June, as part of the Cruinniú na nÓg Festival in Wexford, multiple events were held in public libraries all over Wexford County, as well as simultaneous game jams in Wexford and Belfast. These events, aimed at educating younger generations about the processes of computer game development, were supported by Wexford County Council, Creative Ireland, and IMIRT.
Elizabeth Howard, of Wexford County Council, had this to say about the events :
“The Creative Ireland Team at Wexford County Council was delighted to work with Galway Game Jam in Summer 2024 to co-facilitate two game jams for Cruinniú na nÓg, a day of creativity for children and young people.
The logo for Wexford County Council, organisers of the Crunniú na nÓg Festival.
One of these game jams was enabled through Shared Island funding, where 18 young people from Wexford and Belfast came together to brainstorm and develop games through Gamemaker themed around the environment.
It was fantastic to see the young people and the facilitators collaborating, and their enthusiasm and creativity shone through in the quality of the ideas that were produced. These projects have enabled Creative Ireland in Wexford to connect young communities with gaming professionals and opened up pathways for future endeavours.”
Anchored Hearts: A Tale of Destiny, by Studio Witchstar, was released towards the end of June, and was the second game released by this team, after The Final Farewell launched back in April.
Scrambled Eggs released in July 2024, and Gladiate! in August, a pair of games made freely available by the developers.
Also in August 2024, Dublin Comic Con Summer Edition had an incredible showcase of talent from Irish game developers. No less than 12 studios were present in the Gaming Section on the 2nd floor of The Convention Centre in Dublin.
Featured teams included Black Shamrock, known for working on titles like Grounded and Marvel’s Midnight Suns, and Larian Studios, creators of the fantastically successful fantasy game Baldur’s Gate 3.
Indie devs were well represented by the following teams and their works:
Battleclaws by a group of independent developers is a 2-4 couch co-op claw machine battling game.
Axyz by Space Lion Studios is a spiritual successor to Kula World, launching in early 2025.
Coffee Bot by Four Sided Studios is a coffee-making simulator game where you play as a forklift-certified forklift working in a coffee shop.
Sol Drift by Mad Moon Studios is a third-person spaceship dogfighting game, where players compete to defeat the most enemies to climb the leaderboards.
Forbidden and Side Souls by DeskRage Games; Side Souls is a 2D pixel art take on the FromSoftware classic Dark Souls, while Forbidden is a third-person fantasy game in a similar vein to SoulsBorne games.
Leaf Blower Sim by Lift Indie Games is a new spin on increasingly popular simulator games such as Powerwashing Simulator.
Vault by Justin-Lee Morrison is a tabletop card-playing game, where 1-4 players can try and break the computer code to snatch the prize within the Vault.
And various physical games by TOG Hackerspace, a Dublin-based hackerspace encouraging communities to create new games out of basically whatever you can get your hands on.
Nexus Games Conference in September was the second event of its kind organised by Gamerfest. Speakers this year were varied, from an expert on AI and its use and inclusion in the gaming sector to heads of Story Toys giving individual talks on the importance of government support for companies developing games in Ireland.
October saw three new games launched by Northern Irish teams: Parcel Corps by Billy Goat Entertainment, a game where you play as a freelance bicycle delivery person performing stunts along your route, Amber Ilse by Ambertail Games, a prehistoric spin on village building simulator games, and CROWDED. FOLLOWED, by Night Dial, a psychological horror game where after receiving a briefcase you try to escape a mysterious entity that follows you NO MATTER WHAT.
For the physical board game lovers out there, Dungeons and Naggins was released during the year by Steve Bennett. A lover of comedy and Dungeons and Dragons, this game was a natural evolution of the two hobbies.
And despite everything listed here, so much more happened and continues to happen.
All in all, 2025 looks like it could be an explosive year for growth in this sector. All of the aforementioned events and programmes were months and even years in the making, with dedicated people finding the connections needed in order to make them happen.
With interest in the Games Industry rising, 2025 and beyond could be game-changing for the lives of the people working in this industry.
