L’Irlanda è pronta per diventare un centro di sviluppo di videogiochi, quindi perché non è scoppiata?
https://www.shacknews.com/article/142468/ireland-game-industry-growth
di Banania2020
L’Irlanda è pronta per diventare un centro di sviluppo di videogiochi, quindi perché non è scoppiata?
https://www.shacknews.com/article/142468/ireland-game-industry-growth
di Banania2020
10 commenti
We have very good labour laws that go against video game production culture (crunch)
I feel like I always see “ireland could be a leader in X” and each time it comes out that there’s a reason for why ireland isn’t and won’t for the short term, rarely do I see an article talking about major Irish developments that are bearing fruit9
I work in the industry I can tell you exactly what our problems currently are. Firstly it’s staffing. We have growing indigenous talent but we still need to recruit at least 60% of our staff in all areas from outside of the country. Ireland is not an attractive destination for young people in our industry it’s super expensive and there’s a housing crisis. For engineers there are other tech industry jobs that pay 20% better or more so we have issues with people leaving as the cost of living makes this instant pay rise too attractive to turn down. Many people in Art and Game Design seek employment opportunities in other European countries with a cheaper cost of living such as France, Northern England and Spain. This is compounded by the current downturn in the industry. You might have read about lay offs and studio closures around the world. Although this is a temporary adjustment from the COVID era over extension it’s coming at a bad time for Ireland as the industry was just finding it’s feet. The latter is temporary but the former is going to plague the growth of this industry for years to come.
As mentioned, if I have the choice to go to Poland and be paid well or go to a country with a 20+ year long housing crisis… I know where I’m trying to get work.
Because by and large, the pay in the industry doesn’t get great until you’re near the very top of AAA development, and anyone wanting to set up shop, will want to do it in Dublin.
Who wants to work in an industry that leans so hard into overtime crunch culture, when they’re living somewhere they can barely afford, even with the overtime pay?
I did some interviews for a game development support studio straight out of uni.
They described an issue in which the government would treat them as a software company as opposed to an arts based company. This is unlike the Scandinavian countries where the industry seems to be flourishing in comparison.
Effectively, they have just 2 years of assistance to turn a profit, unlike an artistic company which would have 7 or 8 which obviously isn’t usually feasible.
Not sure how true this is, maybe someone in the industry who has startup experience can verify it.
Don’t have an existing talent base and culture of game devs.
Finally my time to shine.
Some of the reasons Ireland hasn’t fully broken out for games include…
– High cost of living
– Housing crisis
– Major competition for salary prices in Spain, Poland, etc
– Tax credit is very limited and can’t support a lot of game studios purposes due to the requirements of the credit
– Major studios are only willing to set up their QA and Localisation departments in Ireland because those roles cost a lot less than developers
– Setting up outside of Dublin is not optimal for various reasons, which means the road block of setting up in Dublin is pretty big
– As u/eoin2dx mentioned, with only a growing skilled labour force, we still need to get people from outside in to fill most positions
Why waste that talent on videogames when we have lifesaving drugs & medical devices to make?
They won’t get a credit for expenditure inccurred abroad. The EU would label that as harmful tax competition and demand amendment.