The Irish Game Makers Association (IMIRT) has expanded the Irish Games Fund into three separate strands, a redesign that matters to institute professionals as the association uses its funding rules to take a public position on generative AI in game production rather than remaining neutral on the technology. The relaunched fund offers a Development Fund, Prototype Fund and Release Fund, with the Development Fund currently open, offering 50,000 euro to four teams moving from validated prototypes toward commercial release. Expressions of interest close on 8 October, with applications due by 22 October.

IMIRT is the national trade association for game developers and creators in Ireland, running the fund with support from Screen Ireland, the state agency for film, TV and games, and creative hub Ardán.

The fund's generative AI restriction responds to unresolved rights questions across the wider industry rather than a position unique to Ireland.

An explainer on IMIRT's website states that the Development Fund "will not support projects that intend to commercially release with art, audio, writing or other creative assets that have been substantially generated through ML or generative AI systems," citing "unresolved copyright, intellectual property, ownership and commercialisation risks." Developers globally share that unease, with a 2026 survey finding game developers are more worried than ever that generative AI will lower the quality of games, according to Game Developer.

For the sector, a funding body writing AI disclosure and restriction rules directly into its application terms is a more concrete policy lever than the trade statements most associations rely on. For the sector's smaller studios specifically, the requirement to declare AI use and explain how funding will replace it creates a compliance step that did not exist under the fund's earlier structure.

Whether this restriction becomes a template other national funding bodies adopt, or an outlier position Irish developers must simply work around when seeking funding elsewhere, will shape how much influence IMIRT's stance carries beyond its own fund.

Source: Game Developer / Imirt.ie