AustralianIT have an interesting article looking at the lack of Government incentives for the local games industry, with the outlook being grim if much more support isn't forthcoming. Contributing to the argument is Bill McIntosh from Torus Games, Robert Walsh, chief executive of of Krome Studios, Luke Carruthers, chief executive of Imaginary Numbers, Team Bondi director Brendan McNamara, and Game Development Association chief executive Evelyn Richardson...
"We have a 12-month window to position the industry," Game Development Association chief executive Evelyn Richardson said. "Unless we grow six to eight major studios with 150 to 200 staff each, we'll struggle"..."We want to see the growth of local development companies, and what we don't want is our best studios being picked up by multinationals, with no local production."
"The games industry should be on a level playing field with the film industry," said Robert Walsh, chief executive of Krome Studios...
The article goes through the current incentives that the Goverment provides, such as development kits, Developers to E3, and the Electronic Games Investment Fund which aims to raise $25 million. NSW is, however, singled out and blasted for the incredible lack of Government support in that region, which has resulted in a tiny number of game development companies and a low talent pool compared to states like Queensland and Victoria...
"Luke Carruthers, chief executive of Sydney developer Imaginary Numbers, said developers working in NSW were generally there for personal reasons.After being overseas the only thing that tipped us towards setting up in Sydney is that I was from here," he said.
"The economic incentives for Melbourne were overwhelming."
Team Bondi director Brendan McNamara said the NSW Government had "wasted our time" over the company's efforts to create a Sydney games campus.
Other interesting parts of the article also mentions Auran's new publishing operation to create original ip and distribute online...
"..TY the Tasmanian Tiger, which has shipped two million units over three years, pushing it into the top 20 games worldwide.."
Yeah, right. Top 100 maybe - top 20, not a chance in hell.
Mike
Interesting reading. When I read articles such as these I get two conflicting stories.
one says the game industry in this country is thrivng and the other says it needs help.
I get a bit tired of reading about other states getting funding but not SA.
Ha thats funny, didn't Krome just get 1.7 million dollars in grants?
Why cant I post a link up to the other sumea news item that had a debate about this?
Replace the url above with news=1815
Ask here and you get alot of "the industry is thriving".. reality check people. All those contracts arent going offshore? Unique IP isnt important? ... etc etc etc ... "too late" she cried though. The boat has sailed and wont be back ...
Oh, cry me a river.
If your business model is fscked, then fix it. Sure, the Australian games industry could do with some tax breaks, but that doesn't address the economic fact that the work-for-hire business model works only for the cheapest of the cheap. Once there are companies who can do the work for less than you (and there always will be), you either change your business strategy or die. The same thing has happened to hundreds of companies in dozens of industries decades before the games industry ever popped up - why would it be any different now?
If the game industry wants to survive then companies need to start creating their own gear, or getting the balls to secure the IP they want to develop. Ben Lenzo may have not had a fscking clue how to design a game or run a company, but securing the licence for Stargate was an example of what can be done if you grow a pair and go on the offensive.
If the Government wastes your time, well that's bureacracy and we all have to deal with it at some level. The mantra of the day should be 'if you want something done, you've got to do it yourself,' not, 'if you want something done, you should bitch and whine to the press that the Government isn't doing anything about it.'
Kudos to the companies, indies, bedroom designers, coders and artists and anyone else who is having a go at doing their own thing. You pioneering spirit is what will jump-start the rebirth of the Australian game industry. You all know who you are.
hahaha
This is just gold :)
"if your business model is fscked, then fix it". Pure genius, you should write a book on management. You would make millions.
" ... but that doesn't address the economic fact that the work-for-hire-business model works only for the cheapest of the cheap ..." . Not exactly a fact is it Paul when the majority of the industry is either work for hire or first party. It would be financial suicide to invest in game development. That's a fact! Even publishers get burnt.
" ... work for less than you". Sure, why stop there. You could hire monkeys for bannanas. I'm sure they could get thier heads around C++ and Maya. The next best selling title is just round the corner! Shit I think you've cracked it.
"grow a pair and go on the offensive" haha, what can I say. I can't really top that comment. Given what you have said then Paul, do you have a pair then?
"Kudos to the companies, indies, bedroom designers, coders and artists and anyone else who is having a go at doing their own thing. " Because the rest of you have no balls ? The reality is that you're just making a distinction between companies that are succeeding and companies that are failing. Indies, bedroom designers, coders and artists who succeed become larger developers and/or publishers or get large contracts with publishers. That's pretty much a fact.
Kudos to all who are making it happen, however you choose to do it. Big, small, pink, purple, black and yellow.
" When I read articles such as these I get two conflicting stories. one says the game industry in this country is thrivng and the other says it needs help."
Thats deliberate, they need the reader to believe they need the welfare, but they also want the reader to believe that such money could produce benefits.
Personally I like this industry, but the tax payer doesn't owe us a living and if it can't turn a profit without being a drain on society I don't think I'll want to be part of it any more.
" When I read articles such as these I get two conflicting stories. one says the game industry in this country is thrivng and the other says it needs help."
Might that be the difference between PR and truth?
Who knows what to believe these days. Carry on regardless
It's not so much about welfare as it is about a level playing field. If Australia doesn't invest in game development while other countries do, then Australian game development is at a disadvantage.
It's important that the industry communicates this to Government more clearly. Unfortunately the message we're giving government is muddled, often contradictory. You can blame the GDAA for that, there's no real understanding of game development or the industry. It's all very superficial and reactionary rather than strategic and long term.
The only question you really have to ask yourself is do you want a thriving game industry in Australia; yes or no? Government assistance is a part of the equation, not the whole story. It's not always about grants either; infrastructure is critical for the ICT industries in Australia and we have some serious telecommunications problems in this country right now.
An indusrty can be both thriving and in need of governement support - no contradiction here! It is the growth phases of industries that can cause the most grief. Growth unmanaged can be just as devastating to a company as it can to an industry. Industry bodies such as GDAA can only do so much without to support of governments. This debate just reflects to X roads the Australian industry is currently at. Governemtn support doesn't just mean $'s - guidance, export help, investment in related education & infrastruction (such as decent broadband) are all key elements in a healthy and sustainable games industry in australia.
Ok. Simple. If Krome says they need support when they have already been given 1.7 million? Whos kidding who? And thats a quote from the Krome exec himself?
And Paul is right - at some stage the business have to stand in their own right. I dont see Pandemic complaining? Maybe because they have no problems selling the games they make? Maybe because they have a good solid well-developed set of IP resources, and do less fee-for-service work, and more originally derived works? Maybe they have a good reputation of hitting milestones and delivering on projects on time? Maybe if you want to survive for more than a year, itd be smarter to have something pushlishers want.. or you could just beg for a contract as usual..
Anyone who has been working with US publishers over the last 12-16 months would have already seen how contracts are becoming less and less available in the US alone. The fact people somehow beleive this trend wont occur here, is a bit like closing your eyes and hoping for the best. Good luck I say.
The whole typical problem of the Aus game development industry is time and time again exactly the same thing. Alot of smoke and mirrors from the Aus industry game companies.. painting rosy pictures everywhere.. while the reality is completely different.
What I really dont understand, is that when all the indicators for the industry overseas and locally here all display negative growth factors, we have people absolutely in the pretty world of thinking the industry is booming. We arent booming - in the last 6 months we have lost some of the biggest, oldest game companies in Aus. This have left a huge pool of people to employ from, so many Aus companies have taken advantage of this - makes sense. But its not growth thats happening, its a 'rationalisation' of the industry. From many companies.. to just a handfull.
On top of this, any amount of gov assistance wont necessarily help anyone. Without consistant solid publisher deals, companies wont survive. There has to be a reason for a publisher to come back and hire a company to create a game. And sadly.. many publishers have not had very great results from many Aus game companies - missing milstones.. poor features.. and many other problems. I find it horribly sad the first thing a dev company does when a publisher drops a contract, is blame the publisher. The reality is, is developers often cant hit the milestones, and simply cant meet the requirements layed out in the contract... often the publisher even gives the develop many chances!!! but the developer will rarely mention this after they are dropped...
A reality check.. seriously. People should look at Pandemic here as a brill example of what companies should do. They nail contracts and milestones pretty much everytime. I doubt there is another company here in Aus that could _honestly_ say the same thing. And you wonder why they continue to get publishing deals.. in fact get to choose from various ones often.. and even get to create their own...
People refer to Aus game companies as quality development companies. If this is _truly_ the case, then publishers WILL happily sign you up. They love companies that hit milestones and deliverables. And articles like the above would not be necessary, since the contracts coming in would easily pay for the "growing" industry.
Must...resist...urge...to post...
Ahh dammit, I went and f*cked up...
"On top of this, any amount of gov assistance wont necessarily help anyone."
It actually hurts industries in the long run, economists have proven that over and over again for the last 30 years. People just *want* to believe that it would help because they want a successful Australian games industry.
Tax breaks are one thing - they generally only help a company that is making a LOT of money (even after all expenses/deductions are taken out). But I do find it strange getting this comment from a company that just received 1.7mill in government assistance...
(tax breaks can also assist attracting MORE companies to a country - but thats a general economics issue, i.e. lower tax rates).
There is a lot of talent / good work going on here in Australia - but as long as publishers have control (and can always do a RatBag to a developer), and there are no locally based/owned publishers - Australian developers will always be at a disadvantage.
Maybe digital distribution via next-gen consoles will help break this dependence.
Hey Grover,
I know you may mean well and you heart is in the right place, but before people make comments they should really do their homework
eg
A reality check.. seriously. People should look at Pandemic here as a brill example of what companies should do. They nail contracts and milestones pretty much everytime. I doubt there is another company here in Aus that could _honestly_ say the same thing. And you wonder why they continue to get publishing deals.. in fact get to choose from various ones often.. and even get to create their own...
Pando is a great company but really, For starters Destory was over 6 months late, that is not exactly what you would say nailing it and hitting your milestones. They even had to get help from their parent compnay to come bail them out.
Which leads to another issue. They arent even an Australian company. They are owned by a US company and now are owned by elevation. They are bascially a resource company for a US Corp. They dont get to run work down their parent company does. And besides all that I would guess teh royalties they earn dont even get to Australia.
And turning work away is pretty common right now, talk to a lot of the good australian studios they are all really busy and have lots of work. You just have to look at all the job placements going by everyone. Things are going well. Not just for pandemic but for lots of studios.
And as for what shams said, their is no reason Elevation/Pandemic wont do to Pano Australia what Midway did to Ratbag, its the same situation, they are not in control of their own destiny.
AC#19 said: " Pando is a great company but really, For starters Destory was over 6 months late, that is not exactly what you would say nailing it and hitting your milestones. They even had to get help from their parent compnay to come bail them out.
Which leads to another issue. They arent even an Australian company. They are owned by a US company and now are owned by elevation. They are bascially a resource company for a US Corp. They dont get to run work down their parent company does. And besides all that I would guess teh royalties they earn dont even get to Australia."
Spot on AC - well more or less. If you are the AC that regularly defends the local industry's "methods" at success, then you are quite a fragmented personality, as you are usually quick to use such internationals studios to defend the local industry ;)
AC#19 said: "And turning work away is pretty common right now, talk to a lot of the good australian studios they are all really busy and have lots of work. You just have to look at all the job placements going by everyone. Things are going well. Not just for pandemic but for lots of studios."
Well, if you say so, but which studios might that be exactly, are these the "internationals" or the "home-grown" variety. And is it a minority of studios or a majority of studios.
Furthermore, you say that you can measure this "growth" by job advertisements, well, a job advertised doesn't necessarily mean a job filled - sometimes studios just go fishing to see what they can catch, and, to see if they could fill a role on a project if they get the contracts all signed and closed.
Then there is the issue of poaching.
One studio sucks up talent from a number of studios, these studios then have to advertise so as to fill the holes in their team. That is not evidence of "growth" of the industry but perhaps the growth of a studio or two.
There is also the issue of project cancellations and studio closures, which there have been a few of late - which is funny, as I recall I made a promise or two about that ;). As Grover said, this growth is countered by the loss of jobs, so this again is not proof of growth. Then there the common statement that most people went on to work in the industry again after such incidences, someone even said that something like 85(percent) of Ratbag's staff did so. Well, what happened to the other 25(percent)? If all that has occurred is studios feeding off of other studios, and the trend is that something like 25(percent) of people do not get further job placement in the local industry, might this not be evidence of the industry shrinking?
I know what many will say, well this is the cycle of things, it grows, then shrinks again, then grows again then shrinks a bit. Well, yeah, no shit ;) But that does not change the fact that we are going through a shrinking stage, and furthermore, with the effects of next-gen, which have yet to be fully felt, this "shrink" may not exactly be a minor one but a major one - even if afterwards, we do see some solid and positive growth rather than illusion of growth and prosperity that the industry likes to paint for the ignorant.
AC#19 said: "And as for what shams said, their is no reason Elevation/Pandemic wont do to Pano Australia what Midway did to Ratbag, its the same situation, they are not in control of their own destiny."
Ah, maybe. I suppose anything is possible, but I do not think you can compare Pandemic/Bioware with Ratbag. No matter how you might see the local studio, they still have a lot of expertise that they can draw upon from their parent company. And after DAH, which went platinum, I don't think that they will get rid of a studio that can produce quality work, as even if it isn't the best, it still brought in money - how many local efforts can actually say the same?
No it wasn't the same AC. I guess from now on I will just post as AC to avoid any confusion.
CF, you didn't read a word of what Anonymous Coward wrote. He's on the money. You see things a certain way and that's it. I don't think anything will change your mind. Maybe if the heads of one or two studios might consider showing CF around so he can see for himself what's happening. Any takers ?
Ah actually I did read his post, that is why I posted ;)
Perhaps I am stubborn in my views, but you are stubborn in yours.
Actually I wouldn't mind that at all, especially if they are working on titles for the PS3 - would really like to have a chat about tech :)
And anyhow, I fail to see how showing me around one or two studios is going to be representative of the industry as a whole. I really doubt that Team Bondi and Irrational Games for one, would be good examples of studios to use to gauge the health of the local industry with.
Here's my very biased 2c
> Pando is a great company but really, For starters Destory was over 6 months late, that is not exactly what you would say nailing it and hitting your milestones. They even had to get help from their parent compnay to come bail them out.
This would be correct. It was a tough project. We learnt a lot making it, what to do and what not to do and we're putting those lessons into practice. In the end DAH has done pretty well in sales, and it got decent but not stellar reviews. We don't know everything, we keep learning and improving, and we'll do better next time.
> They arent even an Australian company. They are owned by a US company and now are owned by elevation.
This too would be correct. More or less. Actually Pandemic and Bioware are equity partners with Elevation, but whatever. We're not Aussie owned anyways, although Pandemic has always had a lot of Aussie links.
> They are bascially a resource company for a US Corp.
This however would not be correct. We pitched DAH and developed it here, as we had with other projects, and as we will do in the future. We develop our own tech here, we design our own games. We work with and lean on the parent studio for sure - they helped us finish DAH. That's a huge asset, not a hindrance. Its really not much different to the various teams in our parent office in LA.
> And besides all that I would guess teh royalties they earn dont even get to Australia.
And neither is this. Far from it.
> Ah, maybe. I suppose anything is possible, but I do not think you can compare Pandemic/Bioware with Ratbag. No matter how you might see the local studio, they still have a lot of expertise that they can draw upon from their parent company.
Nothing's 100(percent) certain in this business - regardless of whether you're a locally owned studio or foreign owned. You do the best work you can, make the best games you can, work with your publishers as best you can, and hopefully that leads to success.
And yeah - we can draw on the parent company and we help them out from time to time. We get to talk to a big development community within the company - we talk to people both in our LA office and occasionally at Bioware. Its a great resource, there's a whole lot of experience across the company. Its definitely an advantage of there being multiple studios.
Whether the industry is growing, shrinking or stagnating, hell I don't know. There's sure as hell of a lot more of a games industry than there was in the early 90s though.
Welcome to PR 101
What is the intent of this article?
A) Prove to investors they are correct in thinking this industry is too risky and taking any interest in it would be a waste of time.
B) Illustrate to taxpayers that the M&A going on globally has rendered propping up the local industry to be a waste of taxpayer money,
C) Give early warning to employees and IT nerd hopefuls that it's time to migrate to Canada, China or India for an income in game development.
D) Make the government look foolish in the hopes they will waste an even greater amount of the local industries time more efficiently in the near future.
E) All of the above.
Yet another brilliant PR gem from the GDAA BS factory.
It would simply be UNAUSTRALIAN not to blame someone else.
I laugh every time I read this crap...the GDAA being pushd into making statements by companies that are struggling. The same companies who have been struggling for the last 10 years because they dont have the balls or skills to develop their own original IP.
"We have a 12-month window to position the industry," Game Development Association chief executive Evelyn Richardson said. "Unless we grow six to eight major studios with 150 to 200 staff each, we'll struggle"...
living in a fantasy land Evelyn...
"The games industry should be on a level playing field with the film industry," said Robert Walsh, chief executive of Krome Studios...
I do agree with this however, but having a level playing field with the film industry in terms of tax breaks isnt going to magically create publishing deals leading to the formation of 10 studios with 150-200 people.
The GDAA once again proves its worthlessness by putting out negative information on the Australian Games Industry instead of trying to promote it.