A new accelerator programme designed to help independent games firms find their feet in the market has started a pilot run at NDRC.

GamePad, which is the first dedicated games accelerator scheme, is offering a tailored mentorship programme to five games firms, along with access to seed capital of €20,000.

The NDRC, which publishes its annual report today, has teamed up with Enterprise Ireland and Games Ireland to develop the scheme, which currently has five handpicked games firms taking part – Sock Monster Media, Brighthead Games, LoPoly Games, Pewter Games Studios and Dark Oasis.

Running parallel to NDRC’s established LaunchPad programme, the aim is to allow the start-up companies to develop successful games as well as a successful business model.