As a part of Australia’s new National Cultural Policy, the Australian Interactive Games Fund, which was pulled nearly a decade ago, is going to be re-established entirely. The news was announced by Tony Burke MP, the national Minister for that Arts, during the launch celebration for the updated policy.
‘All forms of storytellers now – whether it’s narrative, visual art, music, acting – are finding themselves jobs in the game titles industry,’ Burke said in his address. ‘Screen Australia, when you’ve got a business expanding like this around the world, shouldn’t be left trying to check if there’s some spare change during the lounge to finance this growing rapidly, AU $4 billion sector.’
‘So we’ll restore the Games Fund for Screen Australia which was abolished nearly Ten years ago.’
The original Australian Interactive Games Fund were built with a much wider scope than current measures, and provided ample funding for local and international developers. Amongst other titles, it aided the development of League of Geek’s award-winning Armello, and aided Defiant Development, Flat Earth Games, The Voxel Agents, Loveshack, and lots of other studios.
Despite the development of the profession, the original fund was inexplicably pulled by the Abbott government in 2023 when it came into power, leading to an exodus of local game developers overseas, and the shuttering of countless major studios.
Burke aided the initial establishment of the Australian Interactive Games Fund in 2012 – but it never was in a position to achieve its full potential, with funding stop prior to the promised AU $20 million might be completely spent. At that time, the decision caused major outrage and frustration, with industry leaders calling it a short-sighted decision that was a genuine blow towards the industry, and to the Australian economy.
The current Labor government has pledged to reverse this impact by bringing back the fund, and hopefully restoring ample support for local video game developers.
In the nation's Cultural Policy document, it's promised to introduce the previously-announced Digital Game Tax Offset, alongside ‘increased investment to aid digital games developers and medium and small independent games studios through Screen Australia’ and ‘support for investment in large-scale screen productions in Australia through film tax offsets and location-based production incentives.’
‘Two-thirds of all Australians play game titles,’ the insurance policy makes clear. ‘With eighty-four per cent of revenue derived from exports, there's possibility to expand the domestic games industry and the ensuing employment of creatives within Australia by making use of the AU$250 billion global games market, which is among the fastest growing industries worldwide.’
As Burke said in the address, workers within the game titles industry, and also the wider arts industry, are ‘entertaining and essential’. You can learn more about how this declaration translates to policy and support within the National Cultural Policy 2023, available these days towards the public.
