On January 16th, we had the pleasure of holding the Imirt AGM 2025. Hosted by our friends at Black Shamrock, the event was a huge success. The event started with the Imirt AGM and accompanying Q&A, and was followed by the IndieDev Speed Pitch showcase and a networking reception at The Belfry. The event gave us the opportunity to introduce our new CEO and Board Members, and talk about our progress in 2024 as well as our plans for 2025.
Imirt CEO, Colm Larkin, Presenting at the AGM
Progress In 2024
2024 was a huge year for Imirt and the Irish game development community. In June the Board appointed our CEO, Colm Larkin, as the first step towards dedicated staff for Imirt. Colm also runs his own development studio (Gambrinous) since 2014, and served on the Imirt Board from 2015 - 2019. Colm has been working with the volunteer Board to further scale up Imirt’s capacity and maximise what Imirt can achieve for our community.
IndieDev 2024
IndieDev was a huge part of the evening, with the seven teams presenting their games to our membership. This cross-border prototype fund, running in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, saw €15K of funding awarded to seven teams. These teams received training and support in order to make their games a reality. Funded by Screen Ireland and NI Screen, with support from Ardán and Imirt, this first of its kind programme has been a huge success.
Section 481a - The Digital Games Tax Credit
Section 481a, also known as the Digital Games Tax Credit, is a tax credit for video game developers in Ireland. While the tax credit is an incredible signal for the Irish Games Industry and the support being provided by the government, there is room for improvement. Imirt’s Sec 481a working group meets regularly to move this forward. Last year the group put forward Imirt’s 2024 Pre-Budget Submission with some key ways to improve the credit:
Post-launch development
Projects partially made in Ireland
Work for hire
Remove blockers for FDI
Irish Games Census
In 2024 Imirt began direct work to answer the question “how many people are working in games in Ireland?”. The initial stage of this research was carried out in September, but the work is still ongoing. If you haven’t talked to us already and want your company to be included, please get in touch.
National and International progress
One of the goals for Imirt is to grow recognition of the games sector at national level. This year we have continued our work to educate the government, and we have made huge progress here.
Irish games representation at international level is also evolving. Side events for Irish games were present at GDC, Develop Brighton and Gamescom in 2024. Imirt was involved in all of these, alongside the IDA and EI.
Incubators and Other Initiatives
With the support of Screen Ireland two incubator programmes are in motion. The are the Wild Galway Games Initiative 3.0 (WGGI), run by Ardán and CREW, and the Dublin Games Springboard which is being led by Imirt and the GEC.
These are just some of the programmes and initiatives that IMIRT have run through 2024. We also ran seven workshops, with three of these being packaged into the Press Start event in March. These were incredibly well received and we plan to run more of these in the future. We also took part in Irish Design Week, Wexford County Council’s Cruinniú na nÓg, and supported Fís Games Summit, Nexus, Run For The Border and Gamerfest.
Plans for 2025 and beyond
Imirt turns 10 years old in April 2025, which is an incredible achievement for our community. Our core goals remain:
to grow our indigenous development community
to develop a world class games ecosystem in Ireland
to promote Irish games at both a national and international level.
Irish Games 2030
Irish Games 2030 is at the core of this. A collaboration between Ardán and Imirt, this is a targeted set of initiatives, to detail how we would spend direct funding to best impact the Irish games sector. These would complement the tax credit to grow our community’s talent and develop indigenous game creators. Some examples:
IndieDev 2025
Incubators 2025
Market Access and Presence
Talent Development
Development Funding
Matched Funding
IndieDev 2024, which was our pilot programme, was a huge success. It’s primed for growth and we look forward to evolving the programme in 2025. Incubators pair well with this to help early-stage developers upskill and prepare for their next steps. These two programmes work hand-in-hand with each other, and we hope we can eventually have programmes for every stage of the life-cycle of games.
Market access is very important. This means helping Irish developers get to events like GDC and Gamescom, where key deals in our industry are being made. It’s also important for the broader market to see Ireland as a hub of excellence in games. Events at GDC and Gamescom are a step forward here, but an Irish Games booth remains a key goal.
Development Funding and Matched Funding are important initiatives for emerging and established game studios, and have so far been missing in our industry compared to other creative sectors. These kinds of supports can allow Irish teams to bring more original games to market providing longterm growth and stability to the sector, including the creation and retention of IP.
IMIRT Irish Game Awards
We’re bringing back the annual Imirt Irish Game Awards in 2025, with a catch-up awards covering games that were released from 2022-2024. We intend to have an awards ceremony this April at the Fís Games Summit in Galway. Stay tuned for more news!
The Imirt Board (minus Elaine Dowman) and CEO Colm Larkin during the Q&A that followed the AGM
We’re incredibly proud of the work we have done in 2024, and we’re extremely excited about the plans we have for 2025.