The plug has been pulled on the Interactive Games Fund, with its $10 million allocation redirected to “repair the budget“, but not before it was able to provide financial aid to a number of local developers and organisations. A full list of recipients is available on Screen Australia’s website and it features quite a few familiar names.
The AIGF was split into several categories, including Games Enterprise, Sector Building and Games Production, reflecting the varied nature and requirements of Australia’s industry. Of the fund’s $10 million, the lion’s share went to enterprises, with over $6 million to be distributed over three years to 10 studios, including Defiant Development, Tantalus Media and Tin Man Games.
The GDAA, GCAP and various game jams received the majority of the investment in sector building. In total, $120,500 was divvied up between seven organisations and individuals, with $20,000 going to Freeplay Inc, responsible for organising the annual indie festival of the same name.
Finally, $3.8 million for games production was spread among 36 entities — Current Circus, Flat Earth Games and Endgame Studios among them. Current Circus and its in-production title Muse were given the most significant grant at $270,000, with $265,000 going to Infinity Plus Two for its title Gems of War and $250,000 supplied to Trickstar Games’ Rotorhead.
It’s great to know that during the AIGF’s brief existence, it provided the people behind these businesses the funding they needed to make quality games, but it’s depressing to think of all those in the future who will miss out and — potentially fail now — that it’s gone.
Approvals Games Funding [Screen Australia]
Comments
3 responses to “All The People That Benefited From The Interactive Games Fund”
Coalition uses Mandate…It’s Super Effective…Australian Public has become enraged; Coalition is hit by recoil.
Hopefully this ten million will end up in pollie’s expense accounts and not put to use building a better Australia.
Is it that depressing? For example, do the guys behind Puzzle Quest really need (or warrant) a quarter of a mil to make their new game?
Edit: No idea how my comment appeared here (user error probably).
@Attila Yes, most probably they need 1/4 of mil to make their game. We would need that to make ours (and we don’t have external funding).
I am sure Defiant Development and Tantalus and Tin Man used it well. It’s great Australian studios and we should be proud of them. We are lucky EA was no longer around, grabbing the whole 10 M…