Digit Game Studios, Ireland’s largest games developer, has added Dominque Boutin to the team as their new CTO. Dominque was previously the Technical Director for Bigpoint, a world leading authority in online games, and has a wealth of experience in building and leading technology teams.

“We’re very excited to be welcoming Dominique to Digit. His technical skills, experience and passion to achieve our ambitious plans and change the way people play games, we knew we needed someone with the experience and technical skills that Dominique brings to the team” said Richard Barnwell, CEO at Digit.

Dominique took the time to answer a few questions:

What attracted you to Digit?
I am very excited to be joining Digit as creating engaging cross platform experiences is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now. I love the spirit and attitude of the team which is also reflected in the incubator program that Digit is providing to the Irish independent gamedev scene.

What is seamlessly cross platform?
With seamlessly cross-platform we mean playing in the same virtual world and with the same people across all devices and distribution channels. Jump into our game on the way to the office, during a work break at the desktop or during a relaxed session on the couch: owning multiple devices with different form-factors has become affordable and is starting to be an integral part of people’s lifestyles. We believe that an engaging game experience can be made ubiquitous similar to other online services that we are used to consuming everywhere like e-mail, search and social feeds.

How do you see the games scene changing in 2013?
There will be a significant increase in games for OSX, Linux and Flash3D due to Steam for Linux, the OSX App Store, Unity’s increased cross-platform support and the recent drop of Adobe’s premium feature rev-share model for Flash. The diversity of devices and digital channels is increasing even further and we’ll probably have disruptions in consoles through open android-based platforms like Ouya, GameStick and especially NVIDIA’s Project Shield. Some companies will focus on providing content only for few key markets having highest ROI but others will go cross channel and cross device.

Therefore for traditional publishers their own digital platforms become an essential asset not only for distribution but also for driving customer relations and therefore retention. To extend the life cycle of games we used modding, multiplayer, DLC and online communities. Nowadays very frequent updates are expected by players on mobiles and browser games and that will soon push all digitally distributed games to become online services. The definition of social in games is going to be broader again and will include more traditional elements like clan management. Finally Free2Play is mainstream but there will be more exploration and promotion around non-pay-to-win monetization mechanics.

For further information contact Martin Frain at press@digitgaming.com

Digit Game Studios, Ireland’s largest games developer, has closed a US$2.5 million Series A funding. Delta Partners invested US$2.1 million from its Delta Equity Fund III Limited Partnership, with the remainder of the funds provided by the other existing investor ACT Venture Capital. As a result of this funding, Digit will double the size of it workforce with the creation of 25 new jobs in Dublin.

“This latest funding round will help accelerate Digit in its goal of disrupting the games industry with a new cross platform technology and awesome games,” said Richard Barnwell, CEO at Digit.

Founded in early 2012 by a team of games industry veterans, Digit has been busy developing its first game, Kings of the Realm (KotR). KotR is a massively multiplayer strategy game that works across any connected device – an approach they call “Seamlessly Cross-Platform”.

“Seamlessly cross-platform is a new way of playing games. It allows our games to be played on any connected device and our players can transition between them. Players can play on their browser in the morning, their smartphone on the train and on their tablet in the evening. They can also play against friends who are using a different device,” said Martin Frain, CMO at Digit.

“We’ve been working with the Digit team since the company was founded and have been very impressed with the vision and understanding of games industry. We believe “Seamlessly Cross Platform” games will be a transformational development in the games industry and the Digit management team has the experience and drive to be a global leader in this segment,” said Maurice Roche, General Partner at Delta.

This funding round takes the total amount raised by Digit to US$3.75m with both Delta and ACT, from the AIB Startup Accelerator Fund, previously investing in Digit’s seed round. Kings of the Realm is due out later this year, along with the first book in a series from Penguin.

For further information contact Martin Frain at press@digitgaming.com

Ku: Shroud of the Morrigan is a multiplatform game targeted at core gamers with a narrative focus. It is an isometric action-adventure game with Celtic-punk aesthetics, inspired by classic games such as Zelda and Chrono Trigger. Features include fast-paced combat, puzzles, a unique, hand-drawn world, a unique soundtrack by the Irish electronic underground and a full Irish language version of the game.
It will be initially released for iOS, then onto other platforms.

The choice is yours, but the Nucleus must survive.

Following a retweet by Lord Alan Sugar announcing the arrival of a new Dublin-based game company, Digit Game Studios and Penguin Books have reached agreement to publish books based on Kings of the Realm, the soon-to-be-released free-to-play strategy title from Digit. After spotting the interesting Tweet earlier this year, Penguin’s editorial director Shannon Cullen arranged to meet Digit’s co-founder David McGovern on a trip to Dublin, and discussions began.


Penguin has acquired the world rights for tie-in titles to Kings of the Realm. The first title will be released to support the game’s launch in 2013 and will contain the back story of the fallen realm, hints on strategy and richly expand on details of the online world through an action-adventure fantasy novel. Future titles will feature characters inspired by real players from the game and will be a close collaboration between Digit, Penguin and the online Kings of the Realm community.

Shannon Cullen says: ‘Having seen the success of our younger interactive properties like Moshi Monsters, where the online world inspires content in our books, I am very excited about bringing this type of storytelling to a teenage and older crossover audience. Kings of the Realm is a fantastic gaming experience that will appeal to fans of books ranging from The Hobbit to Game of Thrones, making this perfectly timed. To be able to involve the players of the game in future narratives is an exciting, innovative approach to contemporary storytelling, and we’re delighted to be working with such a forward-thinking and creative company as Digit.’

’It’s great to be working with Penguin,’ says Digit CMO Martin Frain. ’Our game world is a rich fantasy setting and this will be an ideal way for fans of the game to learn more about the history and characters in Kings of the Realm – or to get a taste of the intrigue and backstabbing they will enjoy in the game.’

Kings of the Realm is a free-to-play massively multiplayer real-time-strategy game. It will be launched on browser, Facebook, tablet and smartphone in Spring 2013.

About Digit Game Studios

Digit Game Studios is Ireland’s biggest independent studio, developing cross platform games for a global audience. Currently working on a series of strategy games, Dublin based Digit was founded by a group of English and Irish industry veterans from EA, Jagex, Popcap and Monumental.
www.digitgaming.com
www.kingsoftherealm.com

About Penguin Books

Penguin Books is the flagship imprint of the worldwide Penguin Group and is owned by Pearson PLC, the global media company who also own the Financial Times, the business information group and Pearson, the world’s largest education publishing and technology company
www.penguin.co.uk

For further Information:

Digit: Paul Hayes
0876209823 paul@beachhutpr.com

Penguin: Jayde Lynch
(+44) 02070103072 jayde.lynch@uk.penguingroup.com

So here it is. Digit’s latest member of the team – The Coffee Machine – in all his hot steamy glory.

Fancy a mug of this bad boy’s coffee? You better think about joining us then!

See him here:

And just to prove all of the team were there here’s a group shot of the Digit Founders with the Taoiseach. What a photographic bunch the Digit team are!

From left to right: Dave, Rich, Enda Kenny T.D, Martin, Fergus

In the mean time, here are Dave and Martin shopping: