2022-23 Pre Budget Submission to the Australian Treasury

IGEA has made a Pre-Budget Submission to the Australian Treasury ahead of the 2022-23 Federal Budget.

In our submission, we have continued our campaign advocating for the Australian Government to introduce a direct funding program, similar to the previous Australian Interactive Games Fund, that would involve funding of $5 million a year for four years and would be administered by Screen Australia. The fund will support independent game developers who aren’t eligible for the already announced Digital Games Tax Offset. These incentives create a virtuous cycle of talent accumulation that will increase the effectiveness of tax offsets and retain highly mobile talent in a borderless industry.

In our submission, we highlight that:

• Video games are the world’s fastest growing creative industry, the global market has expanded 20% since COVID alone and is worth $250+ billion annually.
• We welcome the government’s forward-looking move of committing to a Digital Games Tax Offset (DGTO) as it will attract billions in investment and growth over the coming decade to create an industry that by 2030 that can employ 10,000 full-time workers and earn $1 billion a year.
• However, the funding ecosystem is still missing a crucial component: We advocate for a competitive funding program for game development by supporting independent studios that do not meet minimum expenditure thresholds. It would involve funding of $5 million a year for four years and would be administered by Screen Australia.
• Direct funding will be highly effective in attracting investment, creating skilled full-time future-proof jobs, and generating export-generating projects that will aid Australia’s post-COVID recovery.

Details of the call for Pre-Budget submissions can be found here.