Irish online games developer to create 40 jobs

Irish online games developer Digit Game Studios is set to create 40 new jobs at its Dublin base after securing a multi-million euro investment from US touchscreen entertainment network Scopely.

This will treble the level of employment at the Irish business, which was founded in 2012 and is backed by Delta Partners, ACT Venture Capital and Enterprise Ireland.

Digit is Ireland's largest game developer, employing 20 staff at its studio in Dublin. It has launched one game to date, Kings of the Realm in September 2014.

Kings of the Realm has had about 500,000 installs to date and has been the top-grossing strategy game in 30 countries. It has generated a significant seven-digit revenue figure for its Irish creator via in-game transactions and a book publishing deal with Penguin.

Scopely’s investment means Digit will now be able to ramp up its games development activity as part of a multi-game publishing deal with the Los Angeles-based group.

"Content is the richest source of value in this industry and we are delighted to have significant opportunity to create a lot of it," said Richard Barnwell, Digit's chief executive and co-founder. "In addition to Kings of the Realm, we are scaling up our studio to launch an all-new title . . . that has a chance to be huge."

Scopely was founded in 2011 and oversees marketing, analytics, ads, business development, quality assurance, and community management, allowing developers to focus on building and refining their games.

The size of Scopely’s investment has not been disclosed but it has taken a minority stake in Digit. Commenting on the investment, Tim O’Brien, Scopely’s chief revenue officer, said: “We believe they [Digit] are emerging as a leader in mobile strategy games.”