IGEA Continues To Work With The Government On Passing The Digital Games Tax Offset

Monday, 20 February 2023 

IGEA will appear before the Senate Economics Legislation Committee on Tuesday, 21 February to continue to promote the importance of the digital games tax offset (DGTO), which will allow local video game studios to scale up and ensure Australia becomes the global destination for video game development.

The DGTO will provide a 30 per cent refundable tax offset to eligible businesses that spend a minimum of $500,000 to support their projects.

This tax offset will help to attract investment and encourage growth in the Australian digital games industry, which has been facing increasing competition from overseas markets.

IGEA CEO Ron Curry thanked the government for their commitment to the video games industry and recognised the DGTO is one of the best game development incentives anywhere in the world.

“It is time for Australia to take its rightful share of the $250 billion global digital games industry. It is crucial for Australia to remain competitive in this space. The introduction of this tax offset is an important step towards achieving this goal, and we commend the Australian Government for taking this positive step to support our industry,” Mr Curry said.

“The DGTO will help drive innovation and investment and support the creative development of world-class digital games in Australia. It will also help increase jobs for all creatives – musicians, writers, artists and producers – providing an opportunity for more Australians to develop advanced skills in content creation.

“This is all about building the knowledge jobs of tomorrow, and I would like to commend the Federal Government on introducing the DGTO alongside the inclusion of the video games industry in the National Cultural Policy through the re-establishment of the Australian Interactive Games Fund. We also thank the Opposition for supporting the bill, recognising that the DGTO was first proposed by the previous government. Excitement for a vibrant local game development scene and its great economic potential is clearly bipartisan and this reform epitomises that.”

Once passed through the Senate, having already passed the Lower House last year, the DGTO is scheduled to be back dated to take effect from 1 July 2022, and will be available to eligible businesses that spend a minimum of $500,000 related to the development of eligible games.