A recent computer games design competition in Scotland highlighted the work Ireland must do to develop its own talent, writes John Collins.
Various public sector agencies have been working to build a cluster of computer games companies in Ireland, ever since it was identified as one of five key target areas in Forfás's 2002 report, A Strategy for the Digital Content Industry in Ireland.
It's easy to see why Ireland should want to foster a cluster of games companies - it is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the entertainment industry, with global sales of hardware and software last year topping $26 billion (€21 billion) - more than receipts from the US box office. Games are now second only to movies in revenues and are firmly ahead of the shrinking music market.
But the challenges in securing a slice of that pie were underlined last week at "Dare to be Digital", an international games design competition for student programmers, where a team sponsored by the Digital Hub flew the Irish flag but failed to finish among the prizewinners.
Ireland's Team Doom spent the 10 weeks working around the clock developing RacXing X, their online street-racing game. The teams competing in "Dare to be Digital" were facilitated in the University of Abertay in Dundee. It has built up expertise in multimedia and games design and has excellent links with the games industry, which has grown in Scotland in the last 10 years - and could be the model for Ireland.
The core of the Irish team - Damien McNamara, Eoin Ward and Anthony O'Dwyer - have completed a two-year higher national diploma in computer games design at Ballyfermot College of Further Education, while team programmer Mark Cummins has just completed a general computing degree at Dundalk Institute of Technology. In Scotland, they were up against competitors who have completed four-year degrees and even a Master's in games development. They also had to come to grips with the industry-standard development tool RenderWare, which all their competitors had used.
"Games are the most respected side of computer programming in the industry because it's so hard," explains Cummins. "There's so much maths, physics and 3D maths, which is the big thing, and you don't cover that unless you do a games course."
On their return to Dublin this week, Team Doom could see only the positives in their experience and are confident their summer-long immersion in the world of games development will land them jobs in the sector.
"We could add something that the colleges couldn't," says Michael Hallissy, director of learning with The Digital Hub, "another layer with real world work experience."
The chances of getting that experience locally are limited. Tony Kelly, co-ordinator of the Irish chapter of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) and a producer with Donegal-based Torc Interactive, estimates that the Irish games industry employs about 350 people in 13 or 14 companies.
It is the games development area where Irish companies have had the most success. Technology developed by Havok, a company spun out of research conducted by Hugh Reynolds and Steven Collins in Trinity College, Dublin, is used by all the leading games developers and it recently won a massive deal with Sony, which will mean its software is included in the developer toolkit for the PlayStation3.
Those already working in the sector suggest it takes only one success story to move it to the next level. Scotland can point to two mega games franchises - the controversial Grand Theft Auto and the evergreen Lemmings, both of which were developed by DMA Design and led to their subsequent acquisition by Nasdaq-quoted Take Two.
"There's a lot of talk about Scotland's games cluster but the majority of companies are no different to ours in Dublin in terms of the size of the companies and the problems they are facing," says Jonathan McMillan, manager for Scotland and Northern Ireland with Enterprise Ireland.
He says the classic games company is typically centred on a small group of innovative individuals, employs fewer than 10 people and is struggling to get funding, a publishing deal and distribution. "The only difference with Scotland is that they started earlier than us and they had a number of real success stories early on which helped their PR machine," says McMillan.
Certainly the figures suggest Scotland does not have an unassailable lead - Joyce Matthew, manager of the digital media team with Scottish Enterprise, estimates there are 15 dedicated games development firms employing 500 people in Scotland and the entire games sector generates annual revenues of about £20-25 million (€16-€20 million).
"What we have is successful but it's also fragile so we are starting to concentrate more on companies that won't compete directly with our firms," says Matthew
Kelly acknowledges the support that both the IDA and Enterprise Ireland have given the nascent sector, in terms of attracting foreign developers such as DC Studios and TKO Software, who are establishing operations in the Digital Hub, but also through financial support for local companies such as Havok, Torc and Kapooki Games. "What's really needed is an early-stage leg-up for companies," says Kelly.
"If you want to pitch to a major publisher you need to find six to nine months of your own money in order to develop it to that stage. It's a numbers game - you just need one game to be picked up and you have the foundation of an industry."
McMillan sees three main challenges for the sector in Ireland - the global consolidation in the industry, funding for indigenous firms and training for developers.
"The big guys such as Sony, Microsoft and Electronic Arts are getting bigger and more influential," says McMillan. "Ireland needs to look at inward investment and in particular we should be leveraging our relationship with Microsoft, who clearly like doing business in Ireland."
Kelly welcomes the fact that in the next academic year there will be 14 games-related courses on offer in Irish colleges. Unfortunately for now, most of the graduates will be packing their bags for foreign shores - including the east coast of Scotland.
