Australian video game industry calls for federal budget lifeline, warning it’s missing out on billions

Australia’s video game industry is being ignored for government support even though it made $184 million and employed 1245 people last year, insiders say.

Exclusive: Australian game developers are calling for a lifeline in this year’s federal budget to address the unequal treatment given to the film and television industry and help Aussies produce their next Fruit Ninja or Crossy Road success story.

Industry insiders say Australia’s video game industry is routinely being ignored when it comes to government support even though it attracted $184 million and employed 1245 people last year, and warn Australia could miss out on “billions of dollars” if the federal government fails to take action.

The call came as Brisbane’s Gameloft studio revealed another win for the local industry, launching a new title for Apple’s Arcade service which has already won rave reviews.

Its new take on old favourite, The Oregon Trail, makes the studio the 12th Aussie operation to produce a game for Apple, putting it alongside Crossy Road Castle, Fruit Ninja+ and Neo Cab.

So far 10 per cent of the games produced for Apple Arcade have been made in Australia and New Zealand.

Dylan Miklashek, who runs Brisbane's Gameloft Studio, with the Oregon Trail app. The studio recently put out a new Oregon Trail app through Apple Arcade. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Gameloft Brisbane studio manager Dylan Miklashek said producing the game for a subscription service had delivered a new way to fund work at the 40-person studio and produce a premium game.

“This was an opportunity to go back to the original game, modernise it, and take advantage of new technology,” he said.

“We had tried to make a free-to-play version but we realised it wasn’t going to work.”

Interactive Games and Entertainment Association chief executive Ron Curry said Gameloft’s success showed Australian developers had the potential to make a huge impact on a multibillion-dollar market but warned many were fighting to do so.

Despite success creating titles such as Ashes Cricket, World of Tanks and Untitled Goose Game, Mr Curry said only “five cents out of every $100” generated by video game sales was earned by Australian developers, and a lack of government support was holding the country back.

“It’s 30 to 40 per cent more expensive to make games in Australia because of the lack of a tax offset (compared to Canada, the UK and US) but Australia is an attractive place to make games,” he said.

“We’re in the right part of the world, near the location of half the world’s gamers and we have the talent. The big hurdle is cost.”

Mr Curry said the industry group was calling on the government to consider a “contestable development fund” that would not only support major game studios in Australia but small and mid-sized operations to create a healthy video game “ecosystem” like those operating overseas.

Tax support for the gaming industry could also help address a huge imbalance in financial support offered to Australia’s film and TV industry, Mr Curry said, that often had officials joking that they needed to “get Chris Hemsworth to open a games studio in Byron Bay”.

“Games make more money than film or music,” he said.

“The export potential of games is greater than movies and music put together.”

Mr Miklashek, who previously worked for Brisbane’s Pandemic Studios until it closed in 2009, said tax support for game development in Australia could also win investment from big studios currently eyeing off an Australian move and lure back talented creators previously forced to leave.

“There are a lot of Aussies in the industry and some of them would love to come home,” he said.

“Tax support would bring a lot of attention to Australia and that’s all it would need to create a bit of an avalanche.”

The federal budget will be handed down on May 11.

APPLE ARCADE GAMES MADE IN AUSTRALIA

1. Word Laces by Mini Mega

2. Projection: First Light by Blowfish

3. Down in Bermuda by Yak & Co

4. Neo Cab by Fellow Traveller

5. UFO on Tape: First Contact by Revolutionary Concepts

6. Fledgling Heroes by Subtle Boom

7. Doomsday by VaultFlightless

8. Crossy Road Castle by Hipster Whale

9. Necrobarista by Route 59

10. No way home by SMG

11. SP!NG by SMG

12. Fruit Ninja+ by HalfBrick

13. Mini Metro+ by Dinosaur Polo Club

14. The Oregon Trail, Gameloft

Source: Apple

Originally published as Australian video game industry calls for federal budget lifeline, warning it’s missing out on billions