Screen Australia Launches $6 Million Games: Expansion Pack Funding Initiative

Screen Australia has announced Games: Expansion Pack, a new initiative that will provide $6 million of funding to small to medium Australian game studios over the next two years.

Under Games: Expansion Pack, studios where the project’s development budget does not exceed $500,000 will be able to apply for funding up to $150,000. Games can be for consoles, PC or mobile, and while the primary purpose is to fund the creation of new titles, existing games are eligible for funding. The full details of the initiative can be found here.

On the announcement, Screen Australia’s CEO Graeme Mason said that “The games sector is a fast-growing space and very important part of the Australian screen ecosystem,” and that Games: Expansion Pack would help studios “advance the ambition and quality of their digital games, and transition into businesses of scale to better compete in the global market.”

Ron Curry, CEO of IGEA, commented, “Screen Australia’s Games: Expansion Pack is a very welcome addition to the suite of already announced government funding for Australian game developers and signals that games are an integral part of the screen industry.  The Federal Government has consulted very closely with IGEA and the Australian game development sector to commit to the introduction of the Digital Games Tax Offset (DGTO), a globally competitive tax incentive of 30% to be launched on 1 July 2022.  Coupled with the new Games: Expansion Pack initiative, we expect to see accelerated growth for highly creative and skilled Australian games studios and practitioners.”

While Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP said that the “Government is backing the Australian digital games sector all the way.”

The Games: Expansion Pack initiative is the first time since 2014 that Aussie indie devs have had access to federal funding. While it’s excellent to see the federal government get behind the video games industry, hopefully this is just the start of the support with the games industry continuing to bring in more money and gain popularity year on year.