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I am thinking of doing a games industry census of a type to establish numbers employed in Ireland in the games industry and the breakdown by age, gender, ethnic group, freelance/full time etc. My stats are getting old and none of the gov agencies seem to have a complete list. This would be used in a feature on gd.ie and in my own work.
I know Skillset in the UK does a census annually of all the AV industries but I don’t have those kinds of resources.
My first steps is to make sure I have the most up to date list of companies. Since there are probably less than 30 these could be telephoned or sent out a short two page survey or we could do one online here.
Anyway interested in your feedback. Below a list of companies – please let me know if I have missed any. For now it includes companies on the island.
Freelancers will be separate although I think we might need to include freelancers in some way. The companies need to be actually trading and active rather than dormant or a holding entity.
Aphra.
1. Tailteann
2. Gmedia
3. Dime
4. Cando
5. Silvertongue
6. Darkwater
7. Purplenose
8. Vyro
9 PopCap
10 Activision/Demonware
11 Instinct Tech
12 Havok
13 Skillground
14 Selatra
15 OMAC
16 Gamelocalisation.net
17 Goa
18 Gala
19 Microsoft
20 Frogwares
21 Grrr Charge Games Ltd -
Vivendi Dublin no longer exists.
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Are Silvertongue actually a company?
They entered Dare To be Digital right? But have they actually released a product or publised recently?Also who’s Purplenose, they sound like a dare team too.
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Yes Silvertongue was formed after Dare a couple of years ago so will have to check up on them.
Purplenose – http://www.purplenose.com/
Maybe also Frogwares – http://www.frogwares.com/about.html
Bit Rabbit – kind of….
Aphra.
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Are Silvertongue actually a company?
They entered Dare To be Digital right? But have they actually released a product or publised recently?Also who’s Purplenose, they sound like a dare team too.[/quote:937541981a]
I know that Silver Tongue went into the NWIFHE incubator after Dare, but I’m not sure if they’re still kicking around now.
I think that some of those companies are clutching at straws, but still a good census of the Irish games industry!
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Maybe also Frogwares – http://www.frogwares.com/about.html
[/quote:d6eaa6e361]
oooh yeah, never really here anything about them :(
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Activision will have offset the Vivendi numbers a bit and the addition of Goa will have boosted them too. I’ll say the numbers will be up :0)
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The Activision/Demonware entry should really be split in two, as they’re two separate companies – although they do share a building.
– Activision carry out increasingly more QA & localisation for both Activision titles as well as some titles we publish on behalf of other publishers (e.g. Lucas Arts)
– Demonware are online software and servicesThere is still a Vivendi office lingering out in East Point, but it will be gone by year end
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Yeah Silvertongue are still around and still up at NWIFHE (or whatever its called now)
http://www.silvertonguesoftware.co.uk
I was one of the original members from Dare and was there at the startup when they went in to the incubation program. Think they are still doing educational / serious games but not spoken to any of the guys for a while now. Personaly I think they have done great job to be still around, not sure what they are working on now
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Grrr Charge Games in Letterkenny.
PM for details Aphra. -
Given that GOA are (evidently) going on a rather large hiring spree would it not be better to wait awhile so as to get more accurate numbers?
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Grrr Charge Games in Letterkenny.
PM for details Aphra.[/quote:e0df8c6533]There’s a game developer in Letterkenny?
They’ve made 2189 games?
They’ve made games for Mac?
How long have I been in a coma?! More details please.
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A little investigating, serached for "Grrr Charge Games" in Linkedin;
Aidan is a director of the first Irish company to develop casual games. It was in February of 2008 that Grrr Charge Games was formed.[/quote:77e92fde16]
http://www.linkedin.com/in/aidanoduibhir
Very cool to see anyother games company :) :)
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First Irish company to develop casual games? That can’t be right. Or are the other companies not technically Irish?
EDIT: And do they make games or is it a portal of some kind?
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I think they make the games and put them up on the portal site?
KookiMonster, pop back and fill us in :) -
Yes, there are games developers in Letterkenny.
No, we’ve not made 2189 games – we have an agreement with some of the other publishers, they take our games and we take theirs. In theory, it’s another source of cash for very little work. The website really needs prettying up though :(
We make games for PC, Mac & online (ActiveX & flash), with iPhone versions due soon.
As far as the casual market in Ireland goes, there’s us and Popcap. Popcap are based in Seattle, and do localisation, sales and other non-dev stuff in Dublin. (Unless someone from popcap wants to tell me otherwise).
I was told a few weeks ago that PlayFirst are to open an office here in 09/10, but that it could be quite small (2 or 3 people).
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Congratulations to all at Grrr Charge Games, for getting stuck in, and making it happen.
Best of luck in the future, and great to see Letterkenny (and Donegal in general) bringing games to market.
B.
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A few more for the list – I have contact details for all these, but I’m not sure of the status of them all.
BitRabbit
Meedja
Eirplay
V Rising
I’ve also been told IBM do stuff at Damastown.Let me know if you need email addresses to check.
F
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Not sure about Frogware (There is a new Sherlock Holmes game..)
About Frogwares
Created in 2000, Frogwares is an independent development studio specialized in adventure video games and located in Ukraine. Thanks to a talented team of 45 artists and programmers, Frogwares realizes quality games to please adventure fans and has alternated the production of games based upon inquiry and discovery, with high licenses such as the award-winning Sherlock Holmes, Jules Verne and now Dracula. The graphic quality, the technical innovation and the incredible ability to create environments and atmospheres are the spearheads their titles.[/quote:00d1477e61]
They have an Irish office, is it still around? What does it do? Someone go to Ballsbridge and ring their door..
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Hello there…
I’ve been in touch in the past with Frogware’s CEO, but the Irish company is really only a shell. All the executive is in France and the developers are in Ukraine.
Concerning BitRabbit now :)
Although I had to move back to France as you know, for the moment BitRabbit will remain an Irish company. Some news of what we’ve done recently.
We had a new licencor for our cross platform middleware, who have already released two games, that you might have known if you were playing in your youth with an Amiga or an Atari ST:
http://www.nickyboom.com
http://www.kryptonegg.comAlso, we continued work on Platypus for Handmark, one of the big publishers on smartphones. After the Windows Mobile and Palm OS version released in April, the Symbian (S60/UIQ) and Blackberry versions appeared in September. The BB version got the second prize at the RIM Developer Challenge, gaming category. And last but not least, with our middleware now covering the iPhone, we are just a few days away from a new release:
http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/Platypus+(iPhone)/news.asp?c=10130Finally, we begin work on a Nintendo DS game. It’s a bit special, since we’re not yet authorized developer (but we are about to apply). A studio working on the sequel of a big licenced game asked us to do a lot of work on the game logic which runs the world inside the game (hence we don’t really need an SDK, since it’s pure C++ code). So this will be our first foray (and hopefully not last) in console development.
That’s it… Will keep you posted for more.
PS: I wish I was at the shindig, unfortunately I won’t be able to make lots of them now…
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Ah cool, thanks for the update :)
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Hey Mike,
Good to hear things are still going from strength to strength for BR :D
It’s a bit much, I’ve got to post on an Irish Forum from the UK to read your news from France :lol:
‘Hope the kids are getting settled OK, and catch you whenever (and if you ever visit Sumo Digital for whatever reason, drop me a heads-up for a chinwag, their offices are 50 yards from mine :wink: ).
‘Later all,
Steph
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Hi Aphra,
You can add PlayFirst to the list, we’ve been operating here in semi-stealth mode since October and actually working to attract PlayFirst to Ireland since last December. There are currently just two of us employed here but the plan is to grow a full studio with multiple casual game development teams.
Our office is at the Guinnness Enterprise Centre, Dublin 8, and there will be an official press release about the studio by February.
We have an opening for a Senior Artist by the way.. I’ll get the posting up on the job section here soon.
Thanks,
Barry -
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Congrats on the first few months. Says alot about a company in I.T. (even more so games) staying a float during recession times. Best of luck on the ramp up.
Does Chris G. ex-Torc work for ye also?
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Thanks Peter,
Chris G is indeed here too
We still expect the casual games industry to grow strongly for the next few years and PlayFirst have a loyal customer base so we hope we can build a successful studio here, even during this recession.
Barry
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Just in case people missed this news it looks like another new games start up has received funding from a number of sources.
Congrats Steve and co..
Aphra.
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wonder if its a dev or tool’s development.
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Think its pretty much a given if Ireland want into the games industry, tech is the easiest route. Also easier to get funding if im not mistaken.
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1. Tailteann
2. Gmedia
3. Dime
4. Cando
5. Silvertongue
6. Darkwater
7. Purplenose
8. Vyro
9 PopCap
10 Activision/Demonware
11 Instinct Tech
12 Havok
13 Skillground
14 Selatra
15 OMAC
16 Gamelocalisation.net
17 Goa
18 Gala
19 Microsoft
20 Frogwares
21 Grrr Charge Games Ltd[/quote:4e1277412b]Playfirst?…
http://www.gamedevelopers.ie/jobs/viewjob.php?article=174 -
Have you guys seen David Perry’s GamesIndustryMap.com?
Might be good to get these companies on it…
B.
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Well the census letters and e-mails went out last week and the census will be open for a month. If you didn’t receive one, and feel you should have, just e-mail or PM me and we will sort that out.
I see 5 companies have filled in the census by today. Not bad. We sent out 33 invitations so hopefully that number will grow.
Hopefully this info will be of use to everyone and we will publish the results first here on gd.ie. They will be in aggregate form – i.e. – you won’t be able to see info on any individual company – but still it will give us an idea of employment in the sector in Ireland and what people are working on.
Suggestions, comments etc. welcome
Aphra.
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Nice one Aphra, it will be good to get a better picture of what is out there.
There seems to be a few companies about that seem not interested in drawing attention to themselves or their products :p
Tis all very secretive I tells ya!
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hopefully the fact that the info will be published in aggregate form – like the Skillset census stuff in the UK – will mean people won’t mind filling out the form.
I do think it is important for all of us – academics, industry, policy makers to know how and in what ways the industry is growing and changing.
If the industry wants to lobby for any special treatment it also needs to know something about itself.
Aphra.
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