The South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) has launched a Digital Games Fund offering grants of up to A$100,000 (about US$65,000) to local developers.
The announcement was made today by Arts Minister Andrea Michaels MP during the event and shared via official websiteThe SAFC says the fund aims to “stimulate the development of original, innovative South Australian video games” and help local developers grow their businesses and increase the number of South Australian games in the global market.
“The program is designed to foster the development of new and innovative projects of commercial, critical and artistic value, stimulating the growth of South African companies and helping local teams to thrive and expand,” the announcement said.
In addition, SAFC says the fund is also creating a new route for local developers and studios to access the corporation's rebate for video game development in South Africa. According to the SAFC, this supports the development of larger-scale games with the potential to receive a 10% rebate on eligible projects with a minimum spend of $250,000 in South Australia.
Moreover, SAFC is creating a new gaming industry advisory group, which aims to provide “strategic guidance” to the organization on a range of programs and activities. Industry representatives can now join the call.
“The video games industry is an extremely exciting and growing sector full of opportunity for South Australia, contributing $36.2 million to our state's economy,” Michaels said in a statement. “Our state is home to brilliant, creative minds, and the Malinauskas government is supporting our video game developers to take a bigger slice of this huge global industry.”
The growth of the games industry in Australia in recent years has not been a 'revolution'
During an interview in Melbourne at GCAP 2023 and PAX Australia, developers shed light about the state of the Australian video game industry at the time. VicScreen CEO Caroline Pitcher said there had been an “extraordinary evolution” over a period of time, but Pitcher wouldn't necessarily call it a revolution.
Pitcher went on to say that industry in Victoria and Australia had changed radically since the Great Oceania Recession. “That’s when the global triple-A studios left Australia and we were left with a base of very creative, incredible game developers who decided to stick with it and bring their weird and wonderful ideas to life.”
“The global financial crisis has devastated our industry,” IGEA CEO Ron Currie said at the time. “Almost every publisher left the company, and that left a real hole in the market.”
As noted in report for 2024, overall Australian consumer market declined slightly from 2023, rising 5 percent to A$4.4 billion ($2.89 billion). Release of industry into the economy also rose slightly in fiscal 2023, reaching A$345.5 million ($226.9 million), according to Australian trade body The Interactive Games and Entertainment Association. However, the shadow of the global financial crisis continues to hang over the industry.
“Quite often in our history we [the Australian Games Industry] there were times when we were just cut off, you know, because we're on the other side of the world,” Clara Reeves, CEO of Hipster Whale, the maker of the popular free-to-play mobile game, said at the time. Cross road. “So we had to just say, okay, well, we'll do our thing and make it work.” Full application instructions can be found on SAFC official website.
