Report released from the Senate Inquiry into the Future of Australia’s video game development industry

Today, the Senate’s Environment and Communications References Committee officially published the Report on the future of Australia’s video game development industry. For your reference, here is a link to the report.

IGEA made a submission to this inquiry last year and appeared in front of the committee hearing in March.

Overall , the recommendations of the report are quite positive for the games development industry in Australia.  Below is a summary of the key recommendations that the Committee has made to the Australian Government:

• Introduce a funding scheme based on the former Australian Interactive Games Fund.
• Introduce a refundable tax offset for Australian expenditure in the development of game titles.
• Encourage and contribute financial assistance for the creation of shared working spaces, modelled on the Arcade, in other locations.
• Consider the viability of establishing an innovation hub for game development in a regional centre.
• Facilitate dialogue between game industry associations and groups that use serious games, in order to encourage the further uptake of serious games in healthcare, education and other sectors.
• Consider the tax implication of crowd-sourced funding for startups.
• Develop a discussion paper and consult on the utility of the Export Market Development Grants scheme for businesses that operate in the digital economy.
• Take into account whether the industry is improving the diversity of its workforce and is providing fair employment conditions.
• Commit to rolling out 21st century broadband infrastructure.

The instigator of the inquiry, Senator Scott Ludlum (Greens), has also put out a press release about the report and how it is time for the Australian Government to get in the game.