September 12, 2007
Australian game makers feel unloved - by their own government.Hoping for financial support, Greg Bondar, CEO of the Game Developers' Association of Australia, told IGN:
We have been trying to get the government to hear us for a very long time... We want the government to give the electronic games industry the economic benefit of a 40% rebate in the 2008 Federal budget, as they have done for the Australian film industry.
The electronic games industry is already a significant contributor to the Australian economy... Unfortunately, the future growth of the industry is dependent on government support. A government rebate will enable our industry to grow, compete on a global scale, employ more Australian talent and make a bigger contribution to our economy.
We know that our local industry has the capacity to become the same sort of global 'centre' of game development as Canada, we just need the leg up to get there...
Mike Fegan, CEO of IR Gurus, echoed Bondar's concerns, contrasting the Australian government's approach to that of China:
[Ubisoft Shanghai and Epic Game China] have been greatly assisted in setting up by the Chinese Government... who have established a 'green fields' effect whereby they create the foundation and the financial incentives to attract the big video game publishers to come to their shores...
This in turn spawns literally dozens of smaller development companies which are founded by local practitioners who have learnt their local skills from the big multi-nationals. They are going to steamroll us if we sit around - and India isn't that far behind on the technology front...
All we want is for the government to recognise and reward the contribution that our industry makes to the Australian economy... It's time for the government to play the game and put our industry on a level playing field.
As previously reported by GamePolitics, at least one key government official, Information and Communication Technology Minister Tim Holding, is hoping to support the nascent video game industry Down Under.
Comments
Need to pay more attention to what I write >_>
You're right about EA though, and yes, by a comparison of volume, most of the trash comes out of California, Texas and Tokyo. Just because Australia doesn't have a big enough industry to make a blip on the map doesn't mean that 2K isn't a lousy company.
After finishing Bioshock, I think it was definitely over-hyped. The storyline derails about two-thirds in, and all that depth of character customization amounts to "I am god, watch me rape everything in sight" at about the same point. Oh, and the final boss was a joke, I haven't been more disappointed since the end of Halo 2.
As far as I can tell, all Australia has done for the industry is give Jack Thompson irritable bowel syndrome. Which may be enough, in retrospect.
I really need to get Oklahoma into the game support business. They already support film and music production. It would be simple to extend that to game development.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
@Zigs: Your comment amazes me, the whole reason we dont output many good games is becuase we dont have these tax consessions it is much harder to start a company here such as a Blizzard or a Bethesda, a company that can produce thier won titles. The best examples we have is Irrational games(now 2k games) which is located in Canberra (our capital city, thats right Sydney is not the capital) who have developed the Freedom Force games and the PC version of Bioshock (my favorite game since OOT). Other notable companies include Auran who made the very good game Trainz, but was too obscure for most, who have released thier own game engine that any average joe can purchase (costs about AU$250 for non-commercial uses) and are currently making Fury the new free MMO that is starting to gather some Hype.
I really hope that this comes into affect (along with an R18+ rating, but that is an enritly different issue that im not sure this site has touched on) because in a few years I want to be one of those in the many thousands of new jobs created in the industry.
The DRM decision is made by the american subsidary of 2K, not the australian developers.
Furthermore the DRM it uses is developed by Securom, owned by Sony.
Complaining about DRM only points out why government backing is needed, to reduce dependance on DRM loving loving foriegn publishers.
Censorship is still the real issue with games in Australia.
Although I could argue that most games aren't so much outright banned as they are toned down (GTA series for example), just like manhunt 2 has been elsewhere.
The banning of that graffiti/streetart game cannot be justified.
One can sometimes be concidered an exception (like manhunt 2 for example), several is what I call 'Significant'.
But the best purely Australian game is probably and pretty awesome RTS KKND: Krossfire (2). It's just as good as Starcraft, imho.
If it were my vision of what a Government should be (minimal, Libertarian), I'd not support this "rebate", but since that won't happen any time soon, I'm for this move (rebate).
I'd more be worried about what sort of stipulations might come along with that sort of government support. It's easy to see the lawmakers tack on an addendum that states the any companies to receive that rebate must make games 'showcase Australian identity', much in the same way a lot of local indie film companies get their dough, and most Australians will attest to the fact that the result is a lot of very bad films featuring too much slang and too many bogans. While the lure of potential new IP is a nice one, maybe the Australian games industry should stop trying to reach for that particular money hat.
Oh, and here's a short list of games made (or assisted with) in Australia:
Bioshock, System Shock 2, Medieval Total War 1 and 2 + Xpac, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger series (huge sellers overseas), Spyro: New Beginning and Eternal Night, Destroy all Humans, Viva Pinata: Party Animals, Full Spectrum Warrior, Mercenaries, KKND, Powerslide, Fury. The list of quality games can go on. Thanks for your trash goes in, trash goes out comment.
Back on topic, government incentives won't really help the estabilished companies like Irrational (2K Australia), Krome Studios or Creative Assembly much. What it will do is help the smaller development companies who may not have the private financial backing to get started, or the funding of a major international partner.
This wouldn't be such an issue, but the fact that the film industry is getting these rebates whilst we are not is a major oversight on the government's behalf.Censorship and ratings are another issue entirely, games should have the same system as movies but do not. There is no R18+ for games here. Also, the games that the OFLC has banned are generally pretty terrible games that no-one wants to play anyway, but that's still not an excuse.
The industry over here is booming, the larger companies are still growing at a huge rate and the quality of I.P that is now being delivered to Australian studios is world class. Not to mention we have a great lifestyle to support the long hours :)
Regardless of what others may say of him, Bracks really cared about the technology sector. Got to shake the mans hand and talk to him, and was really surprised that he wasn't just there for a photoshoot, he actually knew a fair bit about our trade.
Significant amount???
Dude, get a clue from the video games you play - if you're going to attack something, make sure there's ammo in your peashooter...
5 games in the entire history of the OFLC have been given an RC classification, and only 2 after they were already released.
Hardly a "significant amount".
ParanoidIndividual is right, they will add stipulations.
Today Tonight will probably then do a segment on "Killing Death Training Simulations. How the government sponsors violent video games targeted at preschoolers".
Just because something does well fiscally doesn't mean it isn't a lousy game. If I were to pluck the first few entries from your list the rest is pretty flimsy. The new Spyros were practically unplayable (mostly the cringe worthy camera), Full Spectrum Warrior was buggy as fuck, and Ty the Tasmanian Tiger?
Yep, trash goes in, trash comes out.
Even overlooking the fact that you're judging games that you're probably not in the target demographic for, I find myself wondering if you've actually played these games. Mostly because you say that the new Spyros, that is plural, were practically unplayable.... yet the new Spyro isn't even out yet.
I think we might be looking at a troll. Though I will acknowledge your point that financially succesful games aren't always good. Heck, I think we can say that 95% of EA games fit that criteria... where is EA located again? ;)
Bagging dozens of companies based entirely on their location is narrow-minded and unfair.