"The Games Industry in Ireland 2012" Report is Published During Dublin Games Week 2012
By Date: 11-18-2012 Views:
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As part of Dublin Games Week, "The Games Industry in Ireland 2012", an
independent report by Jamie McCormick, was published on 16th November for the GameDevelopers.ie
community and interested parties at DigitalSkillsAcademy.com, The Digital Hub, Dublin 8 after
previews at the GAME: The Future of Play on Thursday 15th November at ScienceGallery.com,
Trinity College.
The report gives a conservative estimate of the size, scale, distribution and make-up of digital gaming companies operating across the island of Ireland, as well as an estimation of the size of the Irish consumer games market as a distinct wedge of the broader UK market, of which it is part. It is also seeking industry help from the expatriate Irish and Northern Irish game development community who have scattered around the world to "#icheckedingd.ie" after doing a game survey so we can see what skills gaps still remain before they’ll come home to enable AAA development to become a reality in Ireland.
The report breaks down the industry across four main categories: core development, industry services, retail and consumer focused services, and publishing services. It was conducted through two surveys in March and October 2012. It outlines regional jobs numbers, county company numbers, the split between indigenous and international companies, and the types of jobs currently available among people working in the Irish Digital Gaming Industry.
Digital Skills Academy
It that there as of October 2012, at least 2802 people work across 83 games companies on the island of Ireland (Republic and Northern Ireland), with jobs up 91%, game developers up 292%, and overall company numbers quadrupling since the 2009 report on the industry by Dr. Aphra Kerr (NUI Maynooth) and Dr. Anthony Cawley (UL). It also factors in known recent hits to the games industry, and these figures are after they have been accounted for. The report also identifies twelve different games platforms being developed for, with iOS in first place, followed by browser games and PC games in second place.
The report also values the Irish consumer market between 2001 and 2011 at over €2 billion, and the 2011 market value of over €211 million and measures it at least 7% of the overall UK market.
Published as a piece of independent research freely available to the public from Friday afternoon at GameDevelopers.ie, it is offered to industry and state agencies as a benchmark, against which future growth in the entire Irish Digital Gaming Industry can be measured. The author works professionally as Marketing Systems Manager at free-to-play publisher gPotato.eu since 2008, and has worked for over a decade in the Irish Games Industry across Gamesworld, Demonware, Xbox Live Gaming Centre and Jolt Online gaming.
The report is released as part of Dublin Games Week, incorporating the launch
of the GAME: The Future of Play, a free exhibition running in at
ScienceGallery.com, Trinity College from 16/11/12 – 20/01/13, GameDevelopers.ie
workshops taking place at DigitalSkillsAcademy.com on 16th November and
DublinGameCraft.com, taking place on Saturday 17th November at Engine Yard,
Barrow Street.
