By Business & Finance 
Some of the biggest names in the gaming industry will gather at the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) campus in Thurles on March 9th to participate in Games Fleadh 2016, an all-island games design and development competition for third-level students.
Supported by Microsoft Ireland, EA Games, Ubisoft and the Irish Computer Society, the 13th annual Games Fleadh will feature the Game Studio Tower Defence competition and Robocode.
Event organisers say the Irish games design and development sector has recently enjoyed strong growth as evidenced by job announcements from EA, Black Shamrock and ZeniMax, as well as relocation from Silicon Valley to Galway of Romero Games.
EA have continued to grow their presence in Galway and with the addition of their QA team are creating job opportunities for Irish game developer graduates.
“Games Fleadh is a fantastic networking opportunity for the Irish game development sector and in many ways it is the Game Development Oscars for our undergraduate students on the island of Ireland,” said Dr Liam Noonan, event organiser and lecturer at LIT’s Game Design and Development degree in Thurles.
Games Fleadh will feature a keynote talk by John Romero as well as talks by industry professionals from EA, Microsoft and Fungus Games.
Senior PR manager at Ubisoft Stefan McGarry commented: “We are delighted that Tom Clancy’s The Division will feature at this year’s Games Fleadh. It’s a great showcase for new games design and development, and we’re very pleased to be supporting such talent.”
