The Australian government releases lousy response to gaming inquiry

Back in 2016 a cross-party federal inquiry was submitted that recommended multiple ways for the government to support the local video games industry here in Australia. 642 days later, the Australian government finally responds and that response is incredibly disheartening.  For a look at what the inquiry was asking you can check out our past coverage, for a look at the government’s official response head here.

The short version of the full story is as follows. Whilst the Australian game’s industry has been growing, the Australian government could certainly do more to help ensure the health and the future of the industry. 8 recommendations were passed on to the government and not one of them was met with a fully positive response. Not only was the response lousy, but it came almost 2 years after the initial inquiry, missing the official deadline and then missing the self appointed deadline of 2017.

Jonny Roses, the policy and public affairs lawyer for the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association took to Twitter to respond to the situation.

Out of the 8 recommendations made by the Senate, the Government “noted” 5 of them, “did not support” 2 of them, and while it “did support” 1 of them (on encouraging the uptake of serious games), it believed the industry should pursue this and NOT the government.

— Jonny Roses (@jonny_roses) January 31, 2018

So, all-in-all, there was not one single recommendation that the Government actually supported. No funding has been reinstated. No other initiatives (aside from $17,000 given to GDAA for GDC attendance) were implemented

— Jonny Roses (@jonny_roses) January 31, 2018

Certainly not the response we were hoping for. Australian developers are also furious with the response including Chris Conte, co-founder of 5 Lives Studios, developer of Sattelite Reign (whose picture is used above). Chris stated:

“2 years of being constantly slapped in the face: “We haven’t looked at it yet”, “It is on my desk”, “We are formulating a response”, “You will have our response before the end of the year” …. then we get punched in the face: “Aaaaahhhh…. No” … I’m not sure why I thought we were going to get good news at the end of this.”

What’s your thoughts on the government’s response?