BRISBANE – Thursday 20 November, 2008 – In his keynote address at the opening of Game Connect Asia Pacific (GCAP) program, held in Brisbane November 19 – 21, 2008, Co-founder and Managing Director of Animal Logic, Zareh Nalbandian, announced that the company would join the Game Developers’ Association of Australia in 2009 and is keen to join in lobbying government for a rebate for the games industry.
"We are thrilled that Animal Logic is joining the association. They will add weight to our lobbying effort and will strengthen our contention that video games should be included under the broader banner of Screen in Australia," commented Tom Crago President of the Game Developers’ Association of Australia.
In his presentation, which explored the future convergence between the games and film industries, Nalbandian talked of the establishment of Animal Logic Interactive and the company’s move to work in the games industry - which complements its already established presence in animation, visual effects and the film industry.
"We are keen to join in pushing the agenda for industry support by helping to lobby government for the same, or similar, assistance to that which is given to the film industry in Australia," Mr Nalbandian commented.
"We need to keep the talent here. We need to develop and retain talent in Australia and we need to reverse the outflows and the brain drain to create inflows of talent in order to grow a sustainable industry," he added.
Zareh also shared with the audience his perspectives, both on the company's film pedigree (encompassing such titles as the Academy Award winning Happy Feet) and on the rationale behind the company’s move into the games market.