Gaming Evolution: Irish Titles and Companies Making Their Mark

With every passing year, Ireland becomes more and more invested in the video game industry. A wise decision, considering the rapid development of its technology and market, and Irish companies’ investment in contemporary innovative technology such as virtual and augmented reality. From themes in popular titles to video game studios achieving widespread recognition, Ireland’s appeal is growing in the eyes of companies and consumers.

Lero, for example, a software research centre based at the University of Limerick, has opened a new eSports research lab. The healthy amounts professional gamers can earn at tournaments has prompted even Irish innovative minds like Lero’s director, Dr Mark Campbell, to help improve gaming technology further, not to mention the entertainment value. Over 450 million people support this single sector of the gaming industry. With this in mind, here are a few more ways Ireland is contributing to video games.

Irish Themes

The Bard’s Tale is an RPG by InXile Entertainment released in 2004, which can now be played on almost every PC, console, and mobile device. Loosely inspired by an Electronic Arts video game series of the same name, the 3D title follows the adventures of the Bard that take him to real-world places, including Ireland’s Carrowmore, Dún Ailinne, and Emain Macha.

Further afield in the industry, iGaming even has its own Irish entertainment. For example, while playing online casino at William Hill, gamers will come across slots such as Gaelic Luck and Land of Gold; 5-reel slots featuring familiar four-leaf clovers, pots of gold, and leprechauns to enhance the positive playing vibes. Furthermore, strategy titles like Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia are also popular for the educational, if fictional, immersion into the 878 AD clash between Anglo-Saxon, Gaelic, and Viking factions.

Irish Video Game Companies

Havok is a leading representative of what Ireland offers the video game market. Rendering elements such as AI, Physics, and Cloth are the developer’s main design avenues. The company boasts a vast range of technologies, such as 3D navigation, open-world experience, physical simulation, the believability of characters and environments, and so much more.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey and Origins, Call of Duty: Black Ops IV and Infinity Warfare, Resident Evil: Biohazard, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; the list of hugely successful video games that benefitted from Havok’s solutions goes on and on. It does have worthy rivals, however, furthering the Irish contribution to gaming technology.

Demonware is a Dublin-based software development company purchased by Activision Blizzard in 2007. Since then, their efforts in improving gamers’ online experience have been redoubled. This team of experts specialises in the functionality of different digital aspects: transactions, identity management, matchmaking and DLC updates. Primarily, Demoware supports Activision’s online performance needs but also collaborates with other video game studios like Treyarch for the digital optimisation of individual titles. Their overall aim is to ensure every project, whether related to video games or external companies, has its online features and services working to the best of its abilities.

Finally, Romero Games is behind the design of original video games impressing players and critics alike. John Romero, formerly of id Software, developers of Doom and Quake, channelled his expertise into the newly delivered first-person shooter title, Sigil. The second quarter of 2020 is also expected to see the launch of Empire of Sin, Romero Games’ strategy role-playing simulation title. The project’s intrigue is mainly in its setting and plot, which puts you in the shoes of an up-and-coming crime boss in Chicago of the 1920s Prohibition. The goal is to build an empire and defend it from rivals and cops.

Video gaming owes much to Ireland’s developers, as well as the country’s themes and landscapes. By producing technologies used in casual, competitive, and popular games – as well as actual titles, the value of Irish innovation is truly diverse, influential, and unquestionable.

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