Its an even more exciting time if you are looking at entering the Australian games market the first time.
Effective from 1 July 2022, qualifying games developers can secure government rebates of up to 45c in the dollar of eligible Australian game development spend. This means if you spend $1M on qualifying Australian game development, you can potentially receive $450K back in your pocket.
Australia has a network of government agencies through which these incentives can be secured.
Australia-wide incentives
– Digital games tax offset (DGTO): a 30% refundable tax offset for qualifying Australian development expenditure on eligible games from 1 July 2022. It is available for completion, porting or ongoing development (live ops) on eligible digital games with at least $500,000 of qualifying expenditure. (link)
– Screen Australia games grant program:
- Screen Australia opens rounds of games funding throughout the year. The last round offered up to $150K for independent games developers. (Link)
- Screen Australia offers a dedicated first nations games developers studio fund – providing up to $150K development support per annum. (Link)
– Australian Tax Office/AusIndustry R&D tax incentives: Two R&D tax offsets are available:
- a refundable tax offset of (FY22) CTR + 18.5% where the aggregated turnover of the claimant is less than $20 million; or
- a non-refundable tax offset of (FY22) CTR + 8.5% / 16.5% where the aggregated turnover of the claimant is$20 million and over (Link).
In addition to Australia-wide incentives, rebates and grants, each Australian state offers additional local incentives for games developers.
Queensland*
Screen Queensland offers games developers:
- 15% rebate on eligible Queensland games development expenditure
- up to $50K grant scheme for local games development
* Queensland’s funding and incentive framework is currently under review. Keypoint will provide updates as new announcements are made in this space.
New South Wales
- Screen NSW offers a 10% rebate on eligible digital games development with qualifying NSW expenditure of at least $500,000.
Victoria
VicScreen offers:
- The Victorian Production Fund – Up to $300,000 per stage and up to $500,000 per project is available to be cash-flowed into projects, with the equity remaining with the company or individual. (link)
- VSI – Digital Games offers up to 10% rebate on eligible Victorian spend over $500k minimum spend threshold (link)
South Australia
South Australian Film Corporation offers the SA Video Game development rebate. This is a rebate of up to 10% of eligible South Australian video game development expenditure with a minimum threshold of $250K. (link)
Western Australia
Screen West offers:
- Digital Games Production Fund – is designed to help Western Australian studios and developers bring their ideas and prototypes to a level that will gain interest from other investors and partners, have successful releases and achieve high player retention post launch. Up to $200K available through the fund per annum, capped at $150K per game. (link)
- Digital Games Business Accelerator Fund assists Western Australian digital games companies with business development and capacity building. Up to $50K available per annum. (Link)
Tasmania
Screen Tasmania offers:
- Conceptual design grants of up to $10K (link)
- Production and release funding – Recoupable grant of up to $30K for production-ready projects with quantifiable end user/target market and revenue streams (link)
- Production and release funding (Co-investment stream) – Equity investment of up to $300K for suitably co-financed projects Production and relevant (link)
Northern Territory
Screen Territory offers:
- Conceptual development funding – Up to $10 000 per application to deliver micro-prototypes demonstrating innovative game mechanics and audience/market. (link)
- Prototype funding – Up to $25 000 contributing to a significant development work which illustrate core gameplay and key differentiators of game to market competitors (link)
- Vertical slice / early access funding – Up to $40 000 contributing to polished core gameplay, where players can experience a good representation of full release gameplay. (link)
Australian Capital Territory
ArtsACT offers Arts Activities funding in two streams:
- Up to $5000 for smaller projects which is open all year round
- Up to $50K for larger projects in two funding rounds each year.
Other useful links
For information about starting and running an Australian company, searching for company details and name availability.
For information about Australian intellectual property rights, including trade mark availability and patent searches.
For information and management of ABN registrations.
A very useful portal to connect with the ATO as well as gain valuable information about the management of taxation in Australia. This should be a go-to site for all businesses in Australia.
For all Australian privacy compliance law and regulations, and related issues.
Interested in finding out more?
Kate has more than 20 years of experience as a commercial lawyer specialising in intellectual property, entertainment, technology, contract law and international trade, with a particular expertise in film, television and digital games.
Kate has worked on a variety of well-known video games, films and television series (she has more than 80 credits). She acts for games studios and productions houses across Australia, as well as individual creators, assisting them to navigate the legal and commercial complexities of the Australian and global media.
Kate defines her job as “helping creators take their craft to global audiences.” She is passionate about ensuring her client’s objectives are understood and met and has the industry expertise to deliver the right results. She has deep legal experience across the myriad of issue relevant to games companies today and was one of the early architects of the Digital Games Tax Offset. She has an unparalleled understanding of the Australian games legal and regulatory environment.
Kate has significant experience in inbound investment, corporate establishment and governance, scale up and scale down, dispute resolution management, human resources management, corporate advisory and negotiations. She is an experienced mergers and acquisitions lawyer, most recently acting for the Australian games studio target in a $US60M acquisition.
She is a seasoned company director with significant commercial acumen, and a deep global network.
Kate is also the deputy chair of Trade and Investment Queensland, overseeing the governance and strategy of TIQ across its 17 international offices.
Kate’s deep industry experience is complemented by a suite of legal specialists across Keypoint Law’s national and international practices.
Get in touch:
Kate Hynes, Consulting Principal
Keypoint Law, Level 27, 32 Turbot Street, Brisbane
p: +61 7 3106 4700 m: +61 404 280 171 (direct)