Government to invest $20m in games industry; administered by Screen Australia
Federal Minister for the Arts, Simon Crean has announced the government will invest $20m in a games fund over the next three years.
The announcement comes after the screen and gaming sectors have lobbied for games companies to be included within Screen Australia’s Producer Offset scheme, as indicated in SPAA president Brian Rosen’s opening speech on Tuesday.
Crean made the announcement of the new Australian Interactive Games Fund at the Screen Producers Association of Australia Conference in his keynote address.
Crean said: “This $20m fund will help build a sustainable base for the Australian interactive entertainment industry to respond and grow in a global market expected to reach $90.1bn by 2015.”
“Australian games studios are recognised internationally for their skill and originality in developing interactive games played all over the world but the local industry is coming under increased pressure in the midst of a major market shift.”
“This fund will assist the sector to reclaim their competitive advantage and support the development of games in Australia, investing in the intellectual property of our creative businesses to give them a stronger position internationally.
Screen Australia will administer the fund and develop the funding guidelines with the games sector, as the government’s key agency for support to the screen production sector.
Screen Australia’s chief executive, Ruth Harley said: “We welcome the announcement from the Minister and look forward to consulting with the games sector to develop the best possible funding program.”
Crean recognised the increasing parallels between film and the gaming sector, pointing to Wolverine which as a franchise, Crean said, has been adapted for almost every gaming platform.
The fund will benefit both console games and mobile games with Crean adding: “The sector is a major employer and local start-up companies like Melbourne-based Voxel Agents have seen their Train Conductor series downloaded more than five mllion times. More established companies like Brisbane’s Halfbrick Studios had their game Fruit Ninja downloaded 300 million times.”
Tony Reed, chief executive officer of the Game Developers’ Association of Australia said: “This announcement is fantastic news for the Australian game development industry. The games industry has gone beyond the entertainment space with games now used in education, healthcare and training. We look forward to working with the Federal Government to create a program that supports growth and stability, secures jobs, encourages innovation and creativity, and promotes investment in Australian talent and capability globally.
In 2011, Team Bondi, the producers of the popular and critically acclaimed console game LA Noire used a lot of similar techniques to VFX film-making, went under not long after the game was released. The brains behind the game, Brendan McNamara was appointed to the interactive arm of George Miller’s production company Kennedy Miller Mitchell, KMM Interactive where he is working on the game version of Miller’s new Mad Max film.
The Fund will commence in 2012–13 delivering $5m per annum in the first and second years, jumping to $10m in 2014–15.
While any funding is good funding, it is a vast under-estimation by Screen Australia if it thinks a $20 million dollar injection over 4 years is going to offer developers any serious support in the current games market.
What it will allow for, no doubt, is an influx of smaller producers producing low-quality grade on “cheap” development platforms, aka smart phones.
While these can produce outstanding results as is seen with Fruit Ninja, there are thousands of games added to app stores every month, and success is harder to predict than “steady” platform or PC games.
Crean must be joking if he thinks this measly investment will provide any sort of foundation for growth.
Even the example used for console games, L.A Noire, cost over $50 million USD to produce, and took over $150 million USD in return, but still not enough to save the developers. Any investment from this new fund into a serious “console” contender will be small change to the type of money they will actually need to produce a competitive title.
This fund is surely welcome no doubt, but the Australian government needs to stop pretending like games are cheap and easy to produce, and show some respect to the amount of funding and effort actually required to “compete” on the global games market.
I fear that such a small investment will only lead to a gaming industry operating exactly the same as our film industry – 1 barely-profitable title every 10 years, with dozens of flops, failures and nothings in between.
User ID not verified.
Jamie. You’re spot on. What has happened is that the Minister, his advisors and his department have been mesmerised by the spin of the games market together with the general aura surrounding any word digital. Further unlike the film and television industry where subsidy was established only for a cultural reason so Australians could see their own, Australian stories on the big and small screen games are the complete opposite, acultural games destined for world markets. It does become only a matter of time before games creators are demanding what is essentially a manufacturing subsidy for their industry from government. If you worked in a non subsidy manufacturing industry making widgets you would rightly feel pissed off.
User ID not verified.
Jamie, LA Noire was a train wreck of a project. It required Rockstar’s marketing muscle to get it out of a very deep hole. This is not the goal to shoot for.
Harry, the Australian government protects plenty of industries, fair or not. The Canadian and French governments subsidise their games industries significantly (and the UK is moving in this direction) and the success these countries currently enjoy is no coincidence. This money will help level the playing field.
$20 million is not much – but it is something.
User ID not verified.
Video games – the most popular entertainment industry in the world.
You want to reach millions in your key demographics? Buy some product placement in pixel-land. Big tobacco has been onto it for years.
User ID not verified.