Games Fleadh gears up for inaugural Game Developer Awards

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In a first for LIT’s Games Fleadh this year’s event, taking place on 14-15 March, will see the first ever awards show dedicated to Ireland’s gaming industry. The Engineers Ireland Game Developer Awards is a significant addition to this year’s event, which is now in its eight year. Eight Irish and international computer gaming companies are shortlisted, and up to 2,000 students are expected to attend.

Limerick company Open Emotion Studios leads the field with four nominations, with PopCap Games nominated for two. Other nominees include SuperFunPlay, Asturm Nival/gPotato.eu, Eyesodic Games, BatCat Games, Tribal City, Pufferfish Games, and Redwind Software.

Digital Games Design course coordinator at the Institute’s Department of Technology, Media and Science and Games Fleadh founder Philip Bourke said: "Given the rapid growth of the industry and Ireland’s growing reputation as an international gaming hub, it is only right that we would have an annual awards event to acknowledge the cutting edge creativity of Irish companies.

"According to the recent Forfas report, The Games Sector in Ireland: An Action Plan for Growth, the overall global video games market is reckoned to be worth around €62 billion each year, is growing rapidly and is one of the fastest growing segments of the entertainment and media industry. Ireland is already showing a real aptitude and is being recognised internationally as an emerging hub. Critically we must deliver top quality graduates for the sector so we can fill the 2,500 posts the industry here can create by the end of 2014."

John Power, director general of Engineers Ireland, said: "For Engineers Ireland, we feel it is important that we champion this ingenuity as the entertainment industry it is one of the critical areas for our future engineers’ employment prospects and Ireland’s economy."

Other events held over the two days will include tournaments; Robocode Ireland Challenge; Microsoft XNA Game Studio and DirectX Challenge; and a range of talks by industry experts from Microsoft Ireland, BioWare, PopCap and Open Emotion Studios.

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