South Australian gaming companies will showcase their work to major global studios at the world's largest gaming trade event starting today, in a bid to attract big dollars into the State's rapidly growing sector.
Gamescom, in Cologne, Germany, brings together the biggest gaming studios, investors and publishers from around the world, providing a global platform for emerging companies to pitch and promote their products.
Six South Australian studios will attend the five-day event, supported by Invest SA – which has helped prepare local companies in the lead-up and will assist in securing investment opportunities or publishing deals at the trade fair.
SA participants comprise Paper Cactus Games, Lamplight Forest Games, My Colourful Mind, Dino Rocket, Mighty Kingdom and Mini Mammoth Games.
Global players looking to connect include Nintendo, Xbox, Samsung, SEGA, Amazon Games, Amazon Prime, the LEGO Group, Netflix and TikTok.
Gamescom attracted more than 265,000 visitors and featured over 1,100 exhibitors from 53 countries at last year's event, which featured business networking, expert talks, big game reveals and livestreamed coverage.
South Australia is increasingly seen as an investment destination for international gaming studios, backed by the State's Video Games Development (VGD) rebate.
The nation-leading rebate – expanded by $3 million under the Malinauskas Labor Government – allows video game studios to claim a 10 per cent rebate on eligible costs above $250,000 to develop a game in South Australia. The rebate has helped lure major developers Keywords Studios and Big Ant Studios to SA, creating dozens of local jobs and generating millions of dollars in work.
It comes as latest ABS data reveals South Australia experienced the fastest employment growth of digital game development businesses in the nation, growing at 47 per cent each year between 2015-16 and 2021-22 – more than double the national average growth rate over the same period [1].
South Australian game development studios employ more than 300 full-time workers, with more full-time employees per capita than New South Wales and Queensland.
Revenue forecast for the global games industry is expected to rise from US$227 billion in 2023 to US$312 billion in 2027 – with 2022 figures almost 10 times larger than the film industry's box office revenue of US$26 billion over the same period.
As put by Nick Champion
We recognise the gaming sector is big business and our Government is doing more to support local companies make their mark on the global stage.
South Australia produces world-class talent and this event will showcase that to leading industry figures looking to expand and grow their businesses in new markets.
Studios are increasingly drawn to what our State has to offer, and the jobs and economic growth which follow are achievements we continue to unlock.
As put by Paper Cactus Games Director Leo Cheung
We're attending Gamescom in the hopes of making deep and long connections with publishers as we push our first project Fox and Shadow towards release.
Secondly, we hope to hook up with game developers all over the world to learn and bond with both established studios and up and coming indie developers.
The support that Invest SA has provided our company has been invaluable. From assisting us to connect with other creatives that excel within the Adelaide game developer community, through to facilitating our presence amongst the Australian Gamescom delegation, we can't thank the team enough for their work.
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[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics - Film, Television and Digital Games, June 2023
