Australian government to give $6M over three years to indie devs

The Australian government is pledging $6 million over the next three years to 10 different indie studios, amid declines in revenue and employment for the country's game industry, Screen Australia announced today.

Screen Australia is an agency of the Australian federal government dedicated to supporting film, television and video game production.

The new contribution to indie studios is part of Australia's continuing efforts to encourage local game development; in November, the government announced a pledge of $20 million over the next three years for studios across the country. According to Screen Australia, studios have skipped town in favor of regions with lower costs and greater incentives — a survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed a drop in employment from 1431 to 581 individuals between 2011 and 2012, a change of nearly 60 percent.

"Given that game development is the fastest growing sector of the worldwide audiovisual market from a consumer perspective, Australian developers should share in the $80 billion global market," said Fiona Cameron, chief operating officer of Screen Australia, in a press release today.

The $6 million fund will go to the following 10 studios:

• Defiant Development (Ski Safari)
• ODD Games (Monster Truck Destruction)
• Soap Creative (Diggin' Dogs)
• Tantalus Media (Funky Barn, screenshot above)
• Tin Man Games (Gamebook Adventures)
• Torus Games (The Croods: Prehistoric Party)
• Twiitch (Coco Loco)
• Uppercut Games (SnowJinks)
• The Voxel Agents (Puzzle Retreat)
• Wicked Witch Software (Catapult King)

According to Cameron, the funds will allow smaller companies to increase their workforce, and let larger companies switch from doing contract work to developing original IP.