Ireland's game scene back on its feet

BatCat, which made twin-stick shooter P-3 Biotic, is developing a hack and slash game called Honour Bound.

Sometimes you have to see a place through fresh eyes to appreciate it. This writer, having grown up in Dublin, takes for granted a lot of the best things about the city: its size, its nightlife, its people, instead focusing on its bad weather and worse economy. Beyond these shores, media horror stories paint an even bleaker picture of Ireland, with property crashes, bad banks and game office closures including Big Fish and PopCap.

But there's a veritable infestation of start-ups in Dublin at the moment. And thankfully, entrepreneurs, investors and high-level employees from outside the country are coming here for reasons beyond tax breaks and location.

"Derelict warehouse, plus IKEA, equals the Digit offices," says Richard Barnwell, founder and CEO of Digit Games, a new company that employs dozens of people for Kings of the Realm, an ambitious cross-platform online MMO. So far, Digit has received total investment of $3.75m (

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