Ireland’s Games Fleadh celebrates 20 years at TUS this March 8

Ireland’s Games Fleadh will return this March 8, celebrating 20 years of the event. Photo: Alan Place

Returning this year on March 8 and celebrating 20 years of Games Fleadh, the games design and development competition will once again recognise the brightest and best among the country’s student game developers

Now one of the fastest-growing sectors in the global economy, the gaming industry is taking the world by storm, and experts are predicting the market to reach $321 billion by 2026 according to a recent PWC report. 

Over the past-two decades, Ireland’s national Games Fleadh has seen student software developers and game enthusiasts of all levels across Ireland come together at the TUS Thurles Campus to participate in the popular one-day event. 

As part of the 20th-anniversary celebrations, the event will see attendees take a trip down memory lane with many games featuring from 10 to 15 years ago such as the Xbox 360 as well as PC game Doom, which was launched 30 years ago by John Romero of Romero Games.

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Dr. Janice O’Connell Head of Dept of Information Technology at TUS said “We are thrilled to be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Games Fleadh this year. It is an incredible milestone and a wonderful testament to the dedication and enthusiasm of the staff here in Thurles. Through the creativity and imagination of Games, this unique event brings together industry, academia, current students, and future students. Special thanks to our industry partners for their continued support, to the participants, and the staff in Thurles for their help and support. Sincere thanks to our MVP Dr. Liam Noonan, who champions Games Fleadh every year, happy 20th anniversary.”

The event will bring together the collective knowledge of some of the leading names in the gaming industry and will include a fireside chat with John Romero celebrating 30 years of the iconic and groundbreaking game Doom. While also celebrating International Women’s Day, BAFTA award-winning Game Designer Brenda Romero will give a talk titled “It was her” about the important role of women in technology and their many contributions. 

Speaking ahead of this year’s Games Fleadh, Brenda Romero said, “Games Fleadh is where we look for the next generation of game developers in Ireland, and we can’t wait to meet them and see the games they’ve created for this year’s event.”

Games Fleadh will also feature talks with leading industry professionals from EA. In addition, EA will provide industry judges to join former TUS graduates currently working in the industry to assist in the judging of the third-level entries from across the island of Ireland. 

Games Fleadh 2023, is free of charge and open to the public. It is of particular interest to second-level students with an interest in studying Computer Science or a future career in this competitive industry.

Speaking ahead of March 8, Games Fleadh 2023 Organiser and Game Design & Development Degree Lecturer at TUS Dr Liam Noonan said, “The gaming sector has come a long way in the last two decades and its constant growth along with a pandemic-fueled boom has seen the industry reach new heights, opening up a wide range of career opportunities as a result. We look forward to welcoming our competitors to Thurles, as well as second-level students and teachers who we believe will benefit from seeing how games can be used to teach many of the concepts in the computer science leaving cert exam.”

Games Fleadh 2023 will also feature an opportunity to play FIFA 2023 on Xbox series X consoles as well as a chance to play older titles such as Guitar Hero (2008) and Doom (1993).

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