Screen Queensland will support seven games projects from the state with more than $1 million in development funding while also helping nine studios attend this week’s Gamescom digital games conference in Cologne, Germany.
Protostar Games’ It’s Literally Just Mowing, Drop Bear Bytes’ Broken Roads, and unannounced games from Gameloft Brisbane and Prideful Sloth will be funded through the agency’s Digital Games Incentive, which provides a 15 per cent rebate for eligible games that spend a minimum of $250,000 in the state.
Maxart’s Servonauts, Chinfinger’s Squidge and an unannounced rogue-lite title from Half Sun Studios are to receive financial assistance through Games Grants, a seed funding program for independent Queensland games studios that supports projects at different stages of development (prototype, early access, and full launch), with up to $90,000 each.
Screen Queensland, with the support of Trade and Investment Queensland, is also funding Binary Weavers, Layer Licensing, Next Gen Dreams 3D, Public Void, Spitfire Interactive, Tensor Works, Toast VR, 2Bit Studios, and 5 Lives Studios to attend Gamescom from August 24–28, where Australia is the official partner country.
Representatives from Screen Queensland and Trade and Investment Queensland will attend the Australian pavilion stand, hosted by the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA), to promote the state’s offerings and incentives to international companies and investors.
Screen Queensland CEO Kylie Munnich said the sunshine state was emerging as Australia’s most innovative hub for the digital games industry.
“The quality of the games applications we’re receiving, along with our expert local talent pool and competitive incentives, demonstrates that Queensland is on the trajectory to becoming a driving force in Australia’s digital games space,” she said.
“Screen Queensland has supported the local indie games sector since 2015 and, as digital games in Queensland continue to thrive, the agency remains strong in its commitment to growing the industry and championing its practitioners, as well as attracting international companies to establish their Asia Pacific presence in the state.”
Earlier this month, Screenwest announced that five WA games studios — SpaceDraft, Hungry Sky, Big Bench Games, Earthlingo, and Black Labs — would receive a $50,000 government grant to attend Gamescom.