At a Q&A hosted by Screen New South Wales yesterday, hundreds of industry representatives gathered to talk about the Interactive Media Fund.
The talk took place after Screen NSW took over the responsibilities of managing the 3 year, 4.5 million dollar development fund from the Department of Trade and Innovation.
Recipient of the Interactive Media Fund Uppercut Games (Queanbeyan-based ex 2K Australia developers known for triple A iOS release Epoch) were on hand to give fellow developers, educational institutions and related industry organisations a run-down of how the grant allowed them to create the game.
The talk included at what stage the funding was most vital, and the value the fund had added to Australia as a result of the home-grown intellectual property remaining Australian-owned.
Megan Simpson Huberman, Director of Development and Production for Screen NSW, led the Q&A, and noted significant growth in the sector in recent years. In the time since the Interactive Media Fund (formerly the Digital Media Initiative) has been active, the Game Developers' Association of Australia has seen an increase of active developers in the state rise from 5 to 20.
Questions were primarily from heavily invested budding developers who are either just starting out or have yet to release their first title and are seeking government help to make it to their first release.
Previously, the fund has been used to create a Halfbrick (Fruit Ninja, Jetpack Joyride) studio in Sydney, a supplementary app for the film The Sapphires (which has taken AUD$3.6 million in its first week in theatres), Little Space Heroes (which has gone on to win multiple awards and is now looking at becoming a television cartoon) and a further expansion to Epoch as it reaches out to more platforms.
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