The Taoiseach and fans of all video games will attend GamerFest today in the RDS.  

The event offers exhibitions for families, e-sport professionals and investors in the video game industry. 

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will attend GamerFest, having said the gaming industry in Ireland has gone from strength to strength in recent years and created many new jobs. 

The festival will take place today, May 27 and tomorrow, May 28, offering visitors a chance to play on retro and state-of-the-art video games.

GamerFest CEO Stuart Dempsey said the event is “consumer show at heart”.  

“People passionate about gaming come into play the latest games,” he said. 

“We have Williams Formula One eSports here so people can try out the very latest technology and sim-racing rigs where they compete in the fastest App Challenge driving a Formula One car on track.” 

Mr Dempsey also said GamerFest is welcoming people from across the video game industry.  

“Whether that's professionals working in the industry or whether it's people that are passionate about gaming from families to third level students,” he said.  

“It really is a weekend celebration of all things gaming from the latest games to virtual reality to sim-racing with a packed weekend to content for all our visitors.” 

GamerFest was launched in 2017 to invite video game fans and e-sport professionals to Ireland.

E-sports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Professional and amateur e-sport players will attend GamerFest today.

There are over 540 million esports viewers globally as of 2023, and it is predicted that this number will reach 640.8 million in 2025.