The Arcade And Funding For Australian-Made Video Games

Last night SBS tech show The Feed did a great little segment on ‘The Arcade’. Technically The Arcade is office space in Melbourne but really it’s much more than that. It’s a communal space where 17 small Australian development studios can work, share ideas and grow together. It’s a beautiful thing.

The Feed’s story centres around The Arcade, but it also branches out into the issue of Federal funding being cut. In the most recent budget Joe Hockey — without warning — put a giant red marker through the Interactive Media Fund, taking $10 million out of the pockets of game developer. One of the interesting things said in this segment is the fact that the fund was set to be self sustaining by 2017, meaning that the fund would have been paying for itself in a couple of years.

And bringing in overseas dollars hand over fist to the Australian economy. That might be the most frustrating part. Not only was the fund helping grow the Australian game development scene, it was actually good for the economy.

This was great work by The Feed. An inspiring story, but also a frustrating one.