Black Shamrock started out as a handful of hardcore gamers creating our own gaming projects and that will always be a cornerstone of our identity within the Virtuos group. Thanks to joining Virtuos, we have been able to expand our work and connect with new partners on exciting projects, working with them to produce amazing content while also developing our own in-house titles.
WE ARE BLACK SHAMROCK
OUR MISSION
We Make Games Better, Together
Everything we do at Black Shamrock, like our parent company, Virtuos, is about people. From the player experiences that we help craft with our co-development partners to the unique career opportunities that our studio enables, enriching the human experience is at the root of our mission and the reason that we make video games.
True Gamers
Our team is, first and foremost, compromised of avid gamers of all genres. The team is enriched by a diverse mix of backgrounds and united by our passion for game development.
A Rare Opportunity
We are a unique game development studio. At any given time, Black Shamrock is working in collaboration with industry leading publishers and game developers on multiple AAA projects. This means that our team members work with a multitude of different video game brands, genres, and development technologies in a much shorter timeframe when compared to working at a conventional games studio. The result is fast-tracked development experience and faster career growth.
Made in Ireland
We believe everyone should have equal access to pursue the career of their dreams without having to uproot their life to do so. Black Shamrock chooses Ireland as our home to develop AAA titles for this very reason, to create video games industry opportunities where they are few and far between.
CORE VALUES
STUDIO MANAGEMENT
Background: Elaine joined Virtuos in 2023. She was previously Founder and CEO of mobile game company Simteractive, and a founding member of Imirt: The Irish Game Makers Association. With over 17 years of games industry experience across a variety of roles, Elaine is credited for titles including Fable III, Fable: The Journey, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, and Milo & Kate.
Background: Rikki joined Black Shamrock – A Virtuos Studio in 2021. His previous experience includes both the public and private sectors, in industries such as healthcare, retail, hospitality, and financial services. His career has largely focused on Compliance, encompassing Taxation, Audit, Payroll, Employment Legislation, and Finance. He currently leads our HR and administration division within Ireland.
Favourite game of all time: Rikki really enjoys RPG style games. Some of his favourites include Dragon Age and God of War.
Favourite non-gaming hobby: Rikki loves to travel, see new places, and learn new things!
What they like most about Black Shamrock: The amazing and talented people from around the globe that inspire him and his work every day.
PRODUCTION
Background: Mike joined Black Shamrock as Production Director in 2025. With over 30 years of experience in the games industry, he has spent the last 20 years in senior leadership roles at various studios focusing on AAA development. As an early pioneer in co-development, Mike founded Audiomotion in 1997 and then went on to work with several high-profile studios, helping them refine their co-development strategies. Titles of note include Battlefield, Battalion Wars II, Alan Wake Remastered, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Hogwarts Legacy.
Favourite game of all time: Age Of Empires IV the game that just keeps on giving! Mike particularly enjoys its excellent storyline, balanced units, and the ability to create custom skirmishes, which keep him coming back for more.
Favourite non-gaming hobby: Mike enjoys building custom arcade machines and pinball cabinets.
What they like most about Black Shamrock: The people. Beyond that, Mike appreciates the studio’s ability to scale rapidly by using the resources of the wider Virtuos Group to find talent anywhere in the world. He notes that he has never worked anywhere like it and he’s been around a bit.
Background: Mathieu joined Black Shamrock in 2016 as a founding member of the studio. He first started his career in IT as a web system engineer after graduating in fine arts and software engineering. In 2013, he entered the video game industry as an AI programmer at an indie studio called Studio CECLY. Since then, he has worked in production management roles for various RPGs.
Favourite game of all time: His absolute favourite game is The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
Favourite non-gaming hobby: Mathieu loves to hike!
What they like most about Black Shamrock: The variety of games he gets to work on.
GAME DESIGN
Background: Sean joined Black Shamrock – a Virtuos Studio in 2020. He first entered the video game industry in 2004 as a technical level designer at The Creative Assembly, where he worked on Spartan: Total Warrior, their first console title. He later worked at Rockstar Leeds and San Diego before moving back to Ireland. Notable titles he has contributed to include Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Chinatown Wars, Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire, Project CARS 2, World of Speed, and Red Bull Air Race. During his time at Black Shamrock, he has worked on many co-development titles including Grounded, The Outer Worlds, Dune: Awakening, and several upcoming projects yet to be announced.
Favourite game of all time: Sean enjoys single-player, story-driven games such as the Uncharted and God of War franchises. Looking back to older consoles, he also believes you can never go wrong with Rock n’ Roll Racing or Golden Axe.
Favourite non-gaming hobby: Acting as a referee for his two active kids takes up much of his time. He also enjoys watching film and sports—especially soccer and rugby—but will happily watch almost anything in those categories.
What they like most about Black Shamrock: Sean values the opportunity to work on exciting AAA titles while helping to grow the Irish video game industry, enabling aspiring developers to gain world-class experience without moving abroad. He also appreciates being back in the studio environment after many years of remote work.
Background: Ed has been a game designer, director, and manager for 27 years. His career began as a level designer on games such as Splinter Cell and Harry Potter. He later worked in game design on titles including SOCOM and Marvel Avengers Tactics, and more recently contributed to Forza Motorsport and Marathon. Over the years, Ed has worked at studios including Zipper, PlayStation, Xbox, Disney, Ubisoft, and Bungie. He has also been a recurring speaker at GDC and, earlier in his career, wrote a book on level design.
Favourite Game: Ed’s favourite game is the space simulator Elite, which he first began playing in 1985 and still enjoys today in the form of Elite Dangerous.
Favourite Non-Game Hobby: Ed is a hobbyist blacksmith and still enjoys drawing when he can. He also loves cooking and experimenting with new recipes.
What I like about Black Shamrock: Ed appreciates the diversity at Black Shamrock in culture, experience, and viewpoints which he believes is exactly how the best games get made.
ENGINEERING
Background: Eoin joined Black Shamrock as Technical Director in 2022. For over 14 years, he has been a technical leader on triple A mobile, pc and console projects at multiple studios. Most recently, he worked on Star Trek Fleet Command at Digit Games. He worked in the UK, for both Splash Damage and Jagex, building technologies and teams for three generations of consoles. Some of his major console titles include Gears of War and Batman: Arkham.
Favourite game of all time: Doom Eternal, high adrenaline gameplay and highly performant technology, perfection!
Favourite non-gaming hobby: I like to brew beer and lift weights, perfectly contradictory past times!
What they like most about Black Shamrock: It's a source of constant challenge and opportunity. Virtuos is a special organization with so many talented people to learn from and great projects to work on.
Background: Stephen joined Black Shamrock – a Virtuos Studio in 2024, bringing over 17 years of experience in the games industry. He spent a decade working on the FIFA franchise, building expertise in solving complex technical challenges within large-scale game development. At Virtuos, he has contributed to Dune: Awakening and presented work on Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra at both GDC and Unreal Fest.
Favourite game of all time: Portal 2 stands out for its clever gameplay mechanics and great humour. That said, Stephen admits he has also played more hours of League of Legends than he cares to admit.
Favourite non-gaming hobby: Spending time in the ocean or on top of a mountain with a board strapped to his feet.
What you like most about working at Black Shamrock: The variety of projects the studio works on means the team is always tackling new challenge
Background: With 34 years in the industry, Andy's career began as a pixel artist and has evolved through work on over 25 titles across every console since the 4th generation. For the past 15 years, he has focused on the role of Technical Artist, serving as a Lead and now as a Technical Art Director. Andy specialises in building and leading high-performing technical art teams, most recently at Black Shamrock.
Favourite game of all time: Mario Kart 64. It’s multiplayer perfection!
Favourite non-gaming hobby: Traditional art and illustration.
What they like most about working at Black Shamrock: The culture and the people.
ART
Background: Desirae joined Black Shamrock – a Virtuos Studio in 2018. A graduate of Full Sail University, she has worked on games such as Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, Oblivion – Remastered, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order over the course of her 15-year career. She is also passionate about mentoring and has taught students across all areas of animation.
Favourite game of all time: For Desirae, it’s hard to choose a single favourite. While she grew up loving Mario games and Tetris, she now gravitates more towards games with complex storylines and puzzles, such as Tomb Raider and Portal.
Favourite non-gaming hobby: She enjoys outdoor activities, paint carving, and knitting.
What they like most about Black Shamrock: Desirae values the people she works with and enjoys the variety of creative projects that continuously challenge her skills.
Background: Alejandro is an Art Director and Lead Producer with over 30 years of experience across the game, film, and television industries. He has held leadership roles at studios including Virtuos, Activision, 2K Games, Square Enix, and Electronic Arts, contributing to major franchises such as Call of Duty, Dead Space, and Tomb Raider. His work focuses on leading global teams, shaping the creative vision for AAA titles, and integrating new technologies to improve game development workflows.
Favourite game of all time: The two games that inspired Alejandro to become a game developer were Riven, the sequel to Myst, and Half-Life 2—a choice he jokes probably dates him a bit.
Favourite non-gaming hobby: Alejandro enjoys running through the California woods with his dog. He particularly loves the moments when deer cross the trails, a horned owl glides silently overhead, or a pack of coyotes begins howling in the distance.
What you like most about working at Black Shamrock: Alejandro received an incredibly warm welcome when he joined Virtuos, and that sense of camaraderie has remained just as strong over the past two-plus years. He considers it a privilege to share the passion for making games with so many like-minded developers.
Background: Mark joined Black Shamrock – a Virtuos Studio in 2019. With 30 years of industry experience, he has worked at video game development studios worldwide, including Rockstar Games Vienna and LucasFilm Singapore. Over his career, he has contributed to a number of iconic titles, including Back 4 Blood, Grounded, Star Wars: 1313, The Last of Us, The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition, Oblivion Remastered, and Judas.
Favourite game of all time: Samba de Amigo – if he could only find somewhere to get his maracas fixed, he’d be straight back at it!
Favourite non-gaming hobby: Dragon boating – something Mark picked up while working in Asia, and he takes part whenever he gets the chance.
What they like most about Black Shamrock: The opportunity to work on a wide range of AAA projects across a broad spectrum of genres.
Background: Yago has been working in the 3D industry for over 20 years. He began his career as an architect specialising in architectural visualisation before pursuing his passion for film and video games. He currently works as an Art Director at Black Shamrock, a Virtuos Studio, where he leads art teams and oversees the visual quality of large AAA projects. His profile is defined by integrating his architectural background with a strong specialisation in spatial design for video games, approaching level design as the meeting point between art, gameplay, and narrative. Projects he has contributed to include The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – Remastered, The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition, and Back 4 Blood. Alongside his professional work, Yago is currently pursuing a PhD focused on the relationship between architecture and level design, exploring virtual space as a creative and experiential language.
Favourite game of all time: Shadow of the Colossus and Final Fantasy VII (PSX).
Favourite non-gaming hobby: Recently, Yago has found painting his own miniature figures extremely relaxing and rewarding. It helps him disconnect from screens for a while and focus on something more hands-on and creative.
What you like most about working at Black Shamrock: The opportunity to work on some of the biggest IPs in the world while being surrounded by talented professionals who share the same passion for creating video games.