Growing funding gap may push video game developers out of ACT, peak body warns government

The video game industry has trained its sights on greater government support for the growing sector in the ACT through two funding vehicles limited so far to film, warning that the Territory is in danger of losing its studios to other, more generous states.

The industry’s peak body, the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA), has made an ACT Budget submission calling for access to the CBR Screen Investment Fund and the 10 per cent CBR Screen Attraction Fund.

It says that present video game projects remain excluded from these two major funding programs from Screen Canberra, with ArtsACT’s Arts Activity Fund the only funding program open to game developers.

IGEA says this is not enough to support the industry as game projects must compete with every other art form for the possibility of a funding opportunity.

It says this makes it hard for small, indie studios to survive and thrive but also deters larger studios looking to establish their presence in the ACT.

The ACT is also being left behind, with other jurisdictions increasing funding for the industry.

“IGEA is concerned by the large gap between game funding in the ACT and almost every state in Australia, where the latter are doubling down their investment in video games through their state screen agencies,” it says.

This includes dedicated digital game rebates in South Australia (10 per cent for eligible expenditure), Queensland (15 per cent) and New South Wales (10 per cent), while the 10 per cent Victorian Screen Incentive is available to games.

Combined with the federal Digital Games Tax Offset (DGTO), the measures are igniting a surge of industry growth in other states, IGEA says.

“If the ACT Government does not actively support the growth of the local game development industry, the ACT further increases its risk of losing its local game development industry to other states,” it says.

IGEA is urging that the 10 per cent Screen Attraction Fund be opened up to video game projects in order to attract larger studios and more ambitious projects to the Territory.

It says that if the Screen Investment Fund were also opened up to video games, it would be a true ‘’screen’’ fund and support the region’s emerging studios.

“We believe that taking action on these two recommendations will boost the ACT’s growing video game industry and re-establish Canberra as a serious place to make games,” IGEA says.

IGEA says that despite recent challenges, the ACT’s video game development industry continues to make its mark.

“Today, the ACT has 3 per cent of Australia’s game development workforce, despite being approximately 1.7 per cent of the country’s total population,” it says.

Industry players include award-winning studio Uppercut Games, Games Plus (a games co-working space), and the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE), one of Australia’s largest educators for game development, with a major campus in Watson, which the ACT Government has supported.

Last year, ACT indie Blue Manchu won IGEA’s Australian Game Developer Award for Excellence in Gameplay for the game Wild Bastards.

IGEA says the video game development industry can be a key driver of the ACT’s future, digitally enabled economy.

“Our industry intersects the creative and tech industries, attracting a highly skilled workforce comprising programmers, engineers, digital designers, multimedia artists and AI and data specialists, among other creative, technology and business roles,” it says.

“Outside of our industry, these are jobs that are in high demand across the private and public sectors.

“Further, serious games and gamified technologies are finding diverse uses in education, defence, social services, and the business and community sectors.

“The ACT is well suited as a location for the development of serious games, with the potential to become a development hub.”

IGEA’s submission says video games are worth about $4.4 billion a year in Australia.

In 2024, the Australian video game development industry employed 2465 full-time workers and generated $339 million in revenue in the 2024 financial year, 93 per cent of which was generated overseas, making video games one of Australia’s most successful cultural and economic exports.