The business of video gaming

Gaming does great business in Ireland, but do we do great business in gaming? asks Ronan Jennings.

Few people have as much insight on the Irish industry as Dr Aphra Kerr, senior lecturer in sociology at Maynooth University, who has written a book called Global Gaming: Production in the Digital Game Industry.

“What’s happening in Ireland now is very different to what we would have seen 10 or 15 years ago,” says Dr Kerr.

“We’re seeing people with experience in game development abroad come back home to develop. We also have students coming out of game courses and their opportunities to have something published and to gain development experience is much greater than before. It’s a totally different experience to 10 years ago, where you were going to London or LA to pitch to Sony.”

Nonetheless, Dr Kerr agrees that the Irish games industry is still waiting on big success, developers who can win over mainstream.

“Yes, we’re still waiting on that big hit,” she says. “In some ways we have a lot of catching up to do with the likes of Norway, Finland, and Sweden, who have a long tradition of mobile development, for example. The games industry also has serious competition for technology talent in Ireland, with some huge multi-nationals here like Google and Facebook.”

That’s not to say we don’t have some success stories in Ireland, however. Dr Kerr was quick to point out there are number of developers in Ireland who have done well for themselves.

“Some are targeted at mainstream and some are more quirky and artistic,” she says of Irish developers. “Guild of Dungeoneering has been out on Steam for over two years and they’ve released a number of expansion packs.

"They’ve had enough success that they can continue to support that game while building a new project. Then we have Romero Games in Galway and in Dublin there’s Digit Games, who run Kings of the Realm, a massively multiplayer MMO.”

In each case, however, there were different ways of approaching how to fund those games, which is something of a problem for the Irish industry. Currently, Irish developers largely apply for funding through Enterprise Ireland, whereas in other countries gaming is recognised as a cultural initiative rather than a technological one.

“Guild of Dungeoneering went the publisher route, while Digit games were funded by venture capitalists,” Dr Kerr says, “Also, now under the European Media Programme, there is a call every two years for projects across Europe in games development, so there’s an option there. But in some countries like Germany and France they have a tax deduction credit for gaming.”

Does that need to change here?

“In Ireland we’re a little bit out of line with that,” Dr Kerr says.

“We lump gaming in with all the other companies. I think that recognising that this is a cultural industry would make a difference not only to gaming but to other industries too, where they are having to respond to streaming and other online areas. Perhaps thinking about trans-media and some of the cross-overs might benefit everyone.”

If given control over the industry now, with an unlimited budget, what direction would Dr Kerr take the Irish gaming landscape?

“I’d invest more in independent projects to make sure that some things are produced in Ireland that might not otherwise get produced and give people some experience of working this space they might not otherwise get.

"That’s what’s happening in Germany, France, and the UK — for example, the UK has gone with tax credits, while in France you can apply for funding through the same board as the film industry.”

Would a change in approach for development funding help attract bigger companies here?

“It might. We have all of the big companies here anyway, but they’re doing support and community management. We have EA, we have Activison Blizzard, and we’ve had Zynga. Facebook has its European HQ of gaming here, but those companies aren’t doing production and they come in through the IDA, another body to deal with.”

Dr Kerr’s book is focused on changes in the games industry over the last 10 years, but she has a final message for students on how the next 10 years might take shape.

“I think creative students, or students who are interested in creative production should look to the games industry also as a potential outlet for the skills,” she says. “We’ve so much potential in Ireland.”