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Thriving game development businesseswill also fuel other parts of the interactivegames industry, including gamepublishing, hardware and accessories,exhibitions and esports, education,marketing and both online and ‘bricksand mortar’ retail. For example, Canadaestimates that its 21,700-strong gamedevelopment sector supports an additional18,900 jobs across the broader economy.7Esports in particular provides a wonderfulopportunity to boost Australian tourismand we are already seeing stadium ownersand cinemas developing partnerships withesports leagues and teams to fill venuesaround Australia.The benefits of a successful gamedevelopment industry will flow to manyother parts of Australia’s broader economyby providing diverse skills that areuniquely transferrable to other sectors,from IT and software expertise to digitaldesign and media production skills. Gameengines like Unity and Unreal Engine areincreasingly being used in many nongame fields and skilled practitioners ofthose engines are becoming some ofthe most highly-sought workers acrossWHY AUSTRALIA NEEDS ANINTERACTIVE GAMES INDUSTRY7 ESA Canada, p 5-66the entire IT sector globally. Given thatAustralia’s film and TV production sectorshave been static or have declined over thepast decade,8 interactive games – whichare increasingly narrative-driven – canfill the void and provide work for writers,directors, actors, artists, composers,editors and animators among many others.Finally, supporting our game developmentindustry means that Australia will beable to reverse the brain drain that hasbeen leading to a loss of our skilledgame developers, not to mention thethousands of game development anddesign graduates Australia is producingeach year. Our talent is currentlyneeding to move overseas to find work,taking with them not only their skills,experience and creative ideas, but alsotheir taxable incomes. If we don’t supportour industry, we will continue to lose anentire generation of talented Australians tograteful studios in the US, Europe, the UKand Canada.8 Screen Producers Australia, Submission to the StandingCommittee on Communications and the Arts Inquiry intoFactors Contributing to the Growth and Sustainability of theAustralian Film and Television Industry, https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id 05ee381e-fa9e-4cc1-b00edaa388f33d0d&subId 509714, p. 18The budding next generation ofAustralian game developersYoung Australians are passionate about developing games and are makingit happen, with around 5,000 students enrolled in game-related courses eachyear. Australia has some of the best games courses in the world, from thediverse range of courses taught by the Academy of Interactive Entertainment touniversity courses like RMIT’s Bachelor of Design (Games), UTS’s Bachelor ofScience in Games Development and Torrens University’s Bachelor of CreativeTechnologies (Game Art). Unfortunately, with an unsupported industry at homethere are currently not enough jobs to keep these graduates in Australia, but weare doing a great job feeding studios and economies overseas.Building a Thriving Interactive Games Development Industry in Australia

3. Games are a valuable, IP-drivenand weightless export with highglobal demandGames are arguably the perfect exportproduct for Australia. Australian-madegames are generally digital, so there areno transportation costs, and the majorityof games are built on original intellectualproperty, meaning that profits generatedoverseas are typically kept in Australia.Mobile and online games are particularlyattractive to emerging developers, asbarriers to entry can be low and the optionfor self-publishing games on platforms likethe Google Play Store provides a way toreach global markets easily and quickly.The interactive focus of games and thepopularity of Australian settings andstories means that games made in thiscountry have the potential to find realmainstream popularity around the world.The Australian-made game Fruit Ninjahas been downloaded over 1 billion timesand its creator, Brisbane-based HalfbrickStudios, is a shining example of theheights that Australian game developmentbusinesses can achieve. Across theindustry, the majority of Australiangame developers already own their ownintellectual property and earn 80 per centof their revenues from overseas.9 In short,our industry is ready to take on the world.9 IGEA, Australian Video Game Development IndustrySnapshot 2016-7Virtual reality and augmented reality (VR/AR) are on the cusp of becoming one of thetransformative and keystone technologies of the 21st century and are estimated to growinto a AUS 110 billion industry by 2020.11 Interactive games are driving VR/AR’s evolutionand some Australian game studios are on the cutting edge of these technologies forboth entertainment and their wider applications. Games have also been instrumental tothe development of better artificial intelligence, which is rapidly becoming a vital driverof growth across many parts of the global economy. Support for our game developmentindustry is therefore a strategic and future-looking investment into technologies, marketsand export opportunities well beyond games.WHY AUSTRALIA NEEDS ANINTERACTIVE GAMES INDUSTRYGiven that the Asia-Pacific region has an estimated 1 billion gamers and already accountsfor more than half of all global game revenue, Australia has a massive export opportunityright on its doorstep and should be doing a better job exploiting it. Digital exports arealready the fourth largest export sector in the Australian economy, valued at 6 billion,10and if Australia’s interactive games industry can reach its full potential this can rise evenfurther.10 Export Council of Australia, From resource boom to digital boom: capturing Australia’s digital trade opportunity at home andabroad, ID 163948, p 2111 Deborah Weinswig, ‘Virtual and augmented reality become realistic revenue generators’, Forbes, 26 October 2016, ic-revenue-generatorsBuilding a Thriving Interactive Games Development Industry in Australia7

Australia’s growing but under-supportedgame development sceneAustralia’s game development sector has ebbed and flowed over the past twodecades in an environment of low and inconsistent government funding. Whileseveral major game studios closed down around a decade ago due to the globalfinancial crisis and a high Australian dollar, some smaller and more nimblestudios have taken their place. IGEA is proud to count ambitious, innovative andsuccessful games studios among its members like Big Ant, Firemonkeys andWicked Witch in Melbourne, Mighty Kingdom in Adelaide and Nnooo and SMGStudio in Sydney. A new breed of game developers are also breaking throughvia collaborative working spaces that have emerged with support from state andterritory governments, including The Arcade in Melbourne and Game Plus inAdelaide and Canberra.WHY AUSTRALIA NEEDS ANINTERACTIVE GAMES INDUSTRY4. We have entered an era ofserious games and their useshave limitless potentialCalled by many names, ‘serious games’,‘applied games’, ‘games for purpose’and ‘gamification’ means that interactivegames are no longer just used forentertainment but are finding applicationsacross a range of sectors, includinghealth, education, defence, emergencymanagement, sociology, engineering,urban planning, research, training andservice delivery. These industries arehungry to explore the potential uses ofserious games and their demand forgames continues to expand. Globally, theserious games market is expected to growfrom AUD 4.5 billion in 2017 to over 24billion in 2023, growing at an estimatedcompound rate of 37 per cent each year.12Many Australian game developers havealready branched into serious gamesand some even specialise in them. In itsanalysis of Australia’s game developmentindustry, the government trade bodyAustrade specifically highlighted theinherent value that serious games areproviding to the industry by addinginnovation, diversity and scope.13 We are12 Stratistics MRC, ‘Serious games global market outlookand trends forecast and opportunity assessment 2014-2022’,Global Serious Games Market, 201813 Austrade, Digital Games Industry Capability ts/1358/DigitalGames-ICR.pdf.aspx, p 128just at the start of the wave of seriousgames and many Australian companiesare on the cutting edge of showing theworld what they can achieve, including: The Australian-made mobile gameSound Scouts that has been designedto aid the process of detecting hearingdifficulties in young children andhas received 4 million in AustralianGovernment funding for a nationalrollout.14 Opaque Media, which has developedthe Virtual Dementia Experience forAlzheimer’s Australia Victoria as wellas Earthlight, a spacewalking simulatorcompleted with NASA. Well Placed Cactus, which hasdeveloped a niche providing expertise inVR/AR technology to businesses, leadingto its acquisition by Deloitte Australia in2017. Big Ant Studios, which has developedAustralian games for almost twodecades but also leverages its expertiseto provide training and simulatedenvironments for a range of businessesand government agencies.14 Sarah Maguire, ‘National screening program will testAussie kids for hearing loss’, The Lighthouse, 16 November2018, aring-lossBuilding a Thriving Interactive Games Development Industry in Australia

SMG Studio, which worked with theyouth mental health organisationReachOut to develop the ReachOut Orbgame teaching Australian students aboutwellbeing. Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim),which has developed gaming softwarethat has become the flagship militarysimulation training program for the USArmy and several NATO countries. Neuroscience Research Australia, whichdeveloped Smartstep, a game-basedstepping exercise for people with MS tohelp their balance and agility. Orbit and Orb Rescue, a game-basedchild sexual abuse prevention programdeveloped at the University of theSunshine Coast.There are also enormous possibilities for educational games for children, with just oneexample being the ABC which offers a range of games on its education website onsubjects including english, maths, science and technologies.15 Games are a perfectdriver for getting children interested early in their lives in studying and pursuing careersin STEM and developing skills that will provide them with diverse opportunities in sectorsbeyond games. A great example of this is the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge, acompetition which helps students engage in STEM, alters children’s perception of STEMsubjects and which specifically seeks to target gender disbalance in STEM fields. Videogames are powerful tools in this regard and research has found that girls who playedvideo games were over three times more likely to study a STEM degree.16 Games have awonderful adaptability for education and can be used in unique ways, such as to inspireIndigenous children and to get them interested in technology and coding.1715 ABC, Education, http://education.abc.net.au/home#!/games16 Anesa Hosein, ‘Video games could be a short-term answer to science’s gender problem’, The Conversation, 22 October -105328WHY AUSTRALIA NEEDS ANINTERACTIVE GAMES INDUSTRYChildren testing Sound Scouts17 Rae Johnston, ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Games Go Hi-Tech With the First Indigenous Game Jam’, Gizmodo,15 August 2018, irstindigenous-game-jamBuilding a Thriving Interactive Games Development Industry in Australia9

Gamification can also be used to support public and community education campaigns,such as a game being made by Mighty Serious Games in partnership with the VictorianGovernment to combat homophobia.18 The eSafety Commissioner has also developed TheLost Summer, an innovative game to promote online safety and combat cyberbullying,19while the South Australian Water Corporation developed Project Desal to teach Australianchildren about the desalination process. In perhaps the most prominent Australian exampleto date, the Dumb Ways to Die train safety games created by Metro Trains Melbourne havebeen downloaded a total of 200 million times in Australia and around the world.2018 Victorian Government, Game-Changing Project to Combat Homophobia, t-to-combat-homophobia19 Office of the eSafety Commissioner, The Lost Summer, ssroom-resources/lost-summer20 Metro Trains Melbourne, Dumb ways to die, WHY AUSTRALIA NEEDS ANINTERACTIVE GAMES INDUSTRY5. The power of games for digitalinclusion and its cultural dividendfor Australia10Rather than worrying about the impactof games on children’s social lives,researchers and communities are finallyrecognising the positive benefits of gamesas they become the method of choice forchildren to connect with their friends andto make new ones. There is increasingevidence that games can help to improvethe social skills of children and that thefocus of multiplayer interactivity in gamescan promote teamwork, leadership andcommunication.21 The shared experienceof playing games also provide a wonderfulway for parents, grandparents and oldersiblings to bond with young children.Games encourage digital inclusionamong adults by helping to bring togetherpeople who are divided by geographicalor practical boundaries. They also playan important role to help Australians inregional areas feel more connected tosociety, something which other formsof screen content like films and TVshows can struggle to do. Games canbe particularly beneficial to Australians21 American Psychological Association, ‘Video games playmay provide learning, health, social benefits, review finds’,Media release, 25 November 2013, deo-games.aspxwith disabilities and game developershave worked tirelessly in recent years toensure that games are as accessible aspossible, from the use of captioning andcontrol remapping to the developmentof controllers designed for players withdisabilities such as Microsoft’s adaptiveXbox controller.22Games have a range of other positiveimpacts above and beyond social anddigital inclusion. Research conductedby IGEA found that Australians loveplaying games for many reasons beyondentertainment, including to de-stress, keeptheir minds active, be challenged, learnand to exercise.23 Games like Ubisoft’sJust Dance and Nintendo’s Joy-Concontrollers encourage people of all agesto be active, while games also have thepower to help people explore ethicalchoices uniquely through gameplay or tobetter experience and understand socialissues, such as the game An Aspie Life byan Australian developer with autism.2422 Microsoft, Xbox adaptive controller, 3 IGEA, Digital Australia Report 2018, ital-Australia-2018-DA18Final-1.pdf, p 1724 Donal Sheil, ‘The autistic teenager making video gamesto show players what Asperger’s is really like’, ABC News, 28October 2018, spergers-video-games/10437354Building a Thriving Interactive Games Development Industry in Australia

All the cultural arguments for supportingAustralian films and TV shows, includingthe need to ensure Australian children areexposed to Australian stories, also apply togames. Australians are no longer watchingAustralian films and TV like they used toand are increasingly playing games, with67 per cent of Australians playing gamesand 97 per cent of Australian homes withchildren owning video games.25 WhileAustralians spend over twice as muchon games ( 3 billion)26 as they do at thecinema ( 1.2 billion),27 they likely havea much harder time finding Australiangames than movies. Australian childrendeserve to play Australian-made gamesjust as much as they deserve to watchAustralian films and shows.25 IGEA, Digital Australia Report 2018, p 626 IGEA, Australian Video Game Development IndustrySnapshot 2016-7Australian-made games like Ty theTasmanian Tiger by Krome Studios, aseries that has sold a million copies,provide wonderful opportunities to exposeAustralian children to native charactersand settings. Interactive games are now asnarrative-driven as films and TV shows andgames developed in a thriving Australianindustry can have the potential to telllimitless stories about Australians past,present and future. The award-winninggame Florence by Melbourne studioMountains tells the story of 25 year-oldFlorence Yeoh as she finds love andnavigates life. Other examples includeVirtual Songlines, which is helping topreserve and share Indigenous culture,stories and worlds through video games,and Kokoda VR, which was developed bythe ABC to provide an experience of theKokoda campaign.27 Screen Australia, Cinema Industry Trends, nema/industry-trends/box-officeHome-grown games can also provide a vital cultural export for Australia and will help toshape Australia’s image to the world and particularly our region. The fact that more peoplehave played Florence in China than the US shows both the economic and cultural impactthat Australian games can have. The role that Australian games can play as part of ourforeign diplomacy and trade is so significant that the Australian Government highlighted itin its 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper. Sadly, the Government’s support has not followed.Building a Thriving Interactive Games Development Industry in AustraliaWHY AUSTRALIA NEEDS ANINTERACTIVE GAMES INDUSTRYFlorence game.11

BLUEPRINT FOR FOSTERING A STRONGAUSTRALIAN GAME DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRYPaperbarkCreated by Paper House with support from the Victor

1. Provide a 40 million fund for game development 12 2. Create a 30 per cent refundable tax offset for game development 14 3. Provide strategic support for cultural, educational and serious games 16 4. Additional funding and policy support to foster a game development industry 16 The fiscal and economic ca