Screen Australia announces $6 million of funding for video game industry
• The initiative is targeted at emerging independent game studios
Screen Australia has announced a new fund called Games: Expansion Pack that will support Australian game studios.
The initiative is targeted at emerging or small to medium independent game studios and will provide direct funding for original games with budgets below $500 thousand.
Over the next two years, Screen Australia plans to commit up to $6 million. Games can be for any video game platform including PC, mobile and console.
The Federal Government’s Digital Games Tax Offset (DGTO) is also intended to commence this year and will support the development of higher budget video games. This offset will allow those with a qualifying Australian expenditure of over $500 000 to receive a 30% tax offset.
Minister for Communications, Urban infrastructure, Cities and Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP said the Morrison government is backing the Australian digital games sector all the way.
“Our groundbreaking commitment to a 30 per cent tax offset for digital games will supercharge investment into digital games in Australia.
“While the eligibility condition for the digital tex offset means that it is targeted at digital games studios that have reached a certain minimum scale, we also want to encourage smaller games studios to be able to reach this scale,” he said.
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Fletcher said the initiative is highly complementary to the digital games tax offset, and part of their plan to boost the sector and support digital games at all stages of their growth.
CEO of Screen Australia, Graeme Mason said “The games sector is a fast-growing space and very important part of the Australian screen ecosystem. Australians working in the games sector are making names for themselves internationally in what is an extremely competitive industry. Screen Australia is delighted to be able to support the sustainability of our local industry.”
He continued with “We are pleased to support them to develop original ideas and, together with the Federal Government’s DGTO, help expand on the highly skilled workforce we have in Australia”.
Applications for Games: Expansion Pack are open to small and medium independent studios now.
