South Australian government commits $2 million to local games industry

The South Australian government has announced their investment of $2 million to help grow their local video game industry. The South Australian Game Development Fund (SAGD) has made available a generous $1.55 million to fund local production and $450,000 towards the creation of a development space in the centre of Adelaide. According to the announcement, this is in response to the massive amount of feedback concerning the government’s response to a 2016 inquiry on the state of Australia’s game industry. This investment is fantastic news for SA developers as it is expected to create up to 500 new jobs, according to the SA website.

The development space, called Game Plus, is planned to be a hub for developers to share knowledge and resources. It has already signed 6 studios to use its space, the most notable of which is Mighty Kingdom, who has seen spectacular growth and has worked on franchises such as Lego and Disney.  Game Plus co-founder Amit Oberoi and Mighty Kingdom director Phil Mayes are working closely together to ensure the project meets its full potential.

Their  announcement concerning the funds are as follows:

“The SAGDF has been established to support South Australia’s entrepreneurs and businesses to create high quality digital games and target new markets.”

“The fund is expected to create up to 500 new local jobs and position South Australia as a national leader in the growing industry.”

“A total of $1.55 million will be available across three grant categories:

“Production – Grants from $15,000 up to $50,000 to employ additional staff with specialist skills, acquire hardware or software, or cover other genuine production-associated costs for creating new content. Production grants must be matched on a 2:1 basis.
Marketing – Grants from $5,000 up to $15,000 to develop and execute marketing plans for games in target markets.
Skills development – Grants of up to $20,000 for game developers to attend conferences and speaker events and to grow their industry capability through training, scholarships, mentorships and event sponsorship. “

A quote of the full announcement can be found here. If you’re a developer based in SA or have a project based in SA, you can apply for these grants at South Australia’s innovation website.