New €12m indie games investment firm locates in Dublin

30 Sep 2014

A new investment firm for indie games publishers planning to crack Asia is establishing its headquarters in Ireland. Inflexion Point Capital will raise a fund of €12m and plans seed investments of €75,000-€400,000.

The company is going to focus on game development companies that are trying to break into the lucrative Japanese marketplace.

Inflexion Point Capital (IPC) non-executive director Naoise Gaffney told Siliconrepublic.com that the Japanese market has historically been a difficult place for independent games developers to break into as it has been locked down by big publishers.

Gaffney, who also provides monthly free legal clinics to start-ups at accelerator Wayra and the Digital Hub in Dublin, said IPC is aiming to develop a non-traditional model that takes the best bits of an incubator, a publisher and a venture capitalist.

Gaffney previously lived in Tokyo. He said IPC is in talks with Enterprise Ireland about supporting local indie games publishers looking at Japan.

He said IPC wants to bridge this east-west divide and the company is focused on international indie developers, including potential Irish companies.

IPC has teamed up with one of the most outspoken influencers in the Japanese games industry, Keiji Inafune, to achieve its goals. Inafune, now CEO of Comcept, was a former creative director at Capcom, where he oversaw a string of hit games, including Resident Evil 2, Lost Planet and Dead Rising.

“We want to disrupt this status quo and create real opportunities for European studios in Asia,” said Kevin Lim, founder of IPC.

“By nurturing a new generation of indie game studios with global ambitions, we will help bridge the gap between East and West to the benefit of gamers, as well as developers.”

Mobile users in Japan image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com