Dermot Smurfit jnr was left bruised by the end of his time at company GAN but he is now focused on delivering a game that will pay dividendsIn the middle of November last year, Dermot Smurfit jnr, the former chief executive of gaming technology company GAN, found he had a decision to make.
But, eventually, over Thanksgiving dinner – he now lives in California – and discussions with friends, he decided against such an approach. Perhaps unsurprisingly, for three GAN alumni, it is based around the notion of online gaming for money. As far as Smurfit is concerned, the opportunity for Paydirt lies in creating a game for “an older, more serious video gaming cohort that wants more visceral, authentic, realistic experiences” – with, of course, an opportunity to make in-app purchases, compete with their fellow players and earn money.
But will people be able to cash out of the game and spend the gains on, say, a beer in the real world? Yes, he says, and in fact it might be a good bit more than just a beer. To hear Smurfit tell it, the sums might be more than just the equivalent of a windfall from a flutter on the horses; it might be enough to be viewed as an income.
“The challenge is a creative challenge, which can be like capturing lightning in a bottle,” he concedes, more like creating a hit record or movie than striking a deal to provide technology to a casino, as he did for years with GAN. I’ve been bootstrapping this with my own capital, which thankfully I’ve been able to accumulate over the years with GANHe offers a hypothetical example of a pirate-based game, involving plundering and finding buried treasure, but in recent weeks there have been a few more clues.
Among that number are some well-known names who backed GAN the first time around, many of whom were Smurfits or Smurfit family friends. Early investors in GAN included his uncle Michael Smurfit , his cousin Tony Smurfit , his father Dermot snr, his uncle Alan Smurfit, and billionaire Dermot Desmond, all of whom chucked in cash at various points to support GAN – and, more pertinently, took a profit when the share price was riding high.
He says he loved every step and enjoyed the learning and the misses, “the intensity of human interactions with people I genuinely loved and respected”. but, he notes, “we survived a very, very difficult period where the floating interest rate component on our $30 million of debt was seriously threatening the company, and I pulled a $42 million rabbit out of what looked like a very small hat”, referring to its debt refinancing deal with Sega Sammy in 2023.