Wild Galway Games Incubator Programme Celebrates a Successful 2024 

Wild Galway Games Incubator - Closing Showcase - Ardan_Crew
Wild Galway Games Incubator - Closing Showcase - Ardan_Crew

Author:

Kathryn

Date posted:

13.01.2025

Tags:

  • Game Dev Support
  • mentorship
  • Talent Development
  • Wild Galway Games Incubator

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Photos: Claire Sheehan

Building on the success of the Wild Galway Games Initiative 2022-2023 – along with the trust gained with local grassroots developers, established games companies, local and national stakeholders – Ardán’s Wild Galway Games Incubator Programme 2024 supported upcoming game developers at CREW Hub. This unique programme provided tailored mentorship with access to an entrepreneurial workspace, which allowed game developers to work on their portfolios, empower the production of Irish IP, and foster new games studios in Galway.  

“The Galway Game Development community has been on an incredible journey over the last few years, and through support from our local and national partners, we have been very happy to see this local community grow and flourish. We are delighted to see the progress our Wild Galway Games Incubator participants have made this year and we are excited to see where the coming years take them.” Alan Duggan – Ardán CEO 

The 2024 initiative with our collaborators at CREW allowed Ardán’s games co-ordination team – John Crowley and Eoin Butler Thornton – to leverage capacity building support programmes in both creative talent development (Ardán) & creative enterprise development (CREW), for our eight Games Incubator participants. Speakers and mentors included Declan Dowling from 2K Games, Maezza Romero from Romero Games & Isaac Haslehurst from Yogscast Games to name a few. 

Participant feedback: 

“The Incubator was incredibly valuable to me. The workshops & mentoring sessions allowed me to refine my project & find the best path forward for me in terms of creating games on a commercial basis. I would say the most valuable aspects of the Incubator for me was the dedicated space to work & the networking opportunities: Just being in the CREW building and getting to discuss the creative process with people in similar situations helped me immensely.” Brendan Hewson

“The Wild Galway Games Incubator has been a wonderful, valuable experience for my project and me. It has helped me to strengthen my weaker areas, demystify some unknowns and hone my vision – giving me the confidence and direction I need to carry my business idea into being. 2025 is off to a great start, with the WGGI experience on my belt.” Richard Naughton

“I found the incubator to be a great learning experience and a thoroughly enjoyable few months. I thought there was a great range of speakers and mentors who covered a lot of topics that indie developers like ourselves would be interested in. The most beneficial part of the incubator for me though was the networking and connections I made throughout. I found it so helpful to be in a space where I could work and bounce ideas off of other creative people and vice-versa. I feel like I’ve met people who I will know for years to come.” Ian Duggan 

The 2024 Wild Galway Games Incubator programme was managed by Ardán in association with Galway City Council, Creative Ireland, CREW, IMIRT, and Local Enterprise Office Galway.