The building blocks of a gaming industry on the Sunshine Coast were laid at the region’s inaugural Digital Games Summit this month.
Sunshine Coast Council Resilient Economy Portfolio Councillor Joe Natoli said the event, hosted by the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSc) featured more than 80 key players, including local game developers and representatives from film, education, industry and government.
Cr Natoli said the latest data showed the Australian video game industry was worth $345.5 million to the national economy last year, an increase of 21 percent over the previous 12 months.
He said Queensland had experienced extensive growth in the industry over the past three years and was currently one of the best places to develop digital games due to its favourable tax offsets and incentives.
“As Queensland builds its reputation as one of Australia’s leading hubs for the digital games industry, our region has a chance to play a major part in that growth.
“The Sunshine Coast has the foundations for a dynamic digital games industry, driven by our world-class educational programs, robust digital infrastructure, enviable lifestyle and a strong innovation ecosystem.”
Cr Natoli said through a facilitated workshop, the summit identified key priority actions that would help to kick-start the digital games industry on the Sunshine Coast.
He said the event also revealed that there were already several people with digital games talent within the region who were keen to support industry development initiatives.
UniSC’s Professor Mark Loon said the digital games industry attracted a confluence of skills, from creative practices, problem solving and project management.
“These essential and transferable skills make the workforce in digital games a highly sought-after asset,” Professor Loon said.
Screen Queensland Head of Games Jed Dawson said that as global interest in Queensland as a new leader in games development continued to grow, the potential for the Sunshine Coast to capitalise on this momentum was incredibly strong.
“Through our Digital Games Incentive, Games Grants and Games Residency programs, Screen Queensland has worked to build capacity and capability across the state’s bourgeoning games sector in recent years and it’s fantastic to see such strong enthusiasm from Sunshine Coast Council to establish their region as a major player in local digital games development,” Mr Dawson said.
