Developers slam lack of support for local games
Australian game developers seek rebates to help them compete
Fleur Doidge (ARN)05 October, 2007 17:01 print email
Games developers have slammed the Federal government for ignoring the revenue they create while offering 40 per cent rebates to other entertainment producers such as the Australian film and TV industry.
Game Developers Association of Australia (GDAA) president and chief executive of Melbourne-based game developer Tantalus Interactive, Tom Crago, said game development was being ignored by the government despite the industry's huge popularity and export potential in a $40 billion global market.
"In the last Federal budget, a new scheme for the film and television industries was announced - a very generous scheme," Crago said. "Yet game developing has been totally excluded from that system."
He said that Australians of all ages spent more time and money on video games than they did on film and television. One recent game release, Halo 3, was one of the biggest-earning entertainment products in history, netting US$170 million in the US on the first day of its launch.
According to Crago, that's more than any movie has ever done.
"The government is living in the stone age in terms of how people are spending their leisure time and dollars," he said. "It's unfathomable." . .