The Canadian developer DC Studios, with headquarters in Montreal, and UK studios in Glasgow and Bristol, is set to move into the government’s Digital Hub in the Liberties area of Dublin.
DC's IDA-backed expansion is set to create 50 jobs, which will include artists, programmers, and producers. The deal with the IDA is – as usual – undisclosed.
According to sources, DC’s first project in Dublin is a PS2 game. The company also has a game for the next console cycle in the pipeline, but at this time it is unknown if this will be developed at their Digital Hub studio.
As well as ‘Dino Dini's Soccer’ on the PSP, which is due later this year, DC are working on games for the PS2, Xbox, GC, GBA, and mobile phones. They also recently released ‘Rayman DS’ on the Nintendo DS.
Their extensive portfolio includes Tour de France (2003; PS2; Konami), Bear in the Big Blue House (2002; PSOne; Ubsoft), Bratz, (2003; GBA, PSOne, PC; Ubisoft), Army Men Advance (2002; GBA; pub: 3DO), Taxi 2 (2001; PSOne; Ubisoft), NBA Jam 2001 and NBA Jam 2002 (2001 & 2002, GBC, Acclaim).
Announcing the move the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin TD said that “DC Studios, a young ambitious company, will be a valued addition to the growing cluster of digital media activities in Ireland, in particular games development”.
Although, the press release issued by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, stated that “This will be Ireland’s first overseas investment in console software development”, this is not the case, Norwegian developer Funcom had studios in Ireland. Before August 2001, when Funcom closed their Irish studio to focus on online PC games, Dublin had been their console base since 1995/6. Most notably, the PlayStation game ‘Speed Freaks’ was developed at their Sandyford Industrial Estate offices. As far as we can make out, ‘Jet Sprint MX’ for the Xbox was still in production when the developer stopped creating console games.
As we reported before, homegrown Irish developers Torc Interactive, and Kapooki Games, are due to release games later this year.
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