Australia and video games are not exactly on friendly terms. The country has a long history of game censorship, such as when it effectively banned Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number by refusing to give it a rating. The creators of South Park: The Stick of Truth were also forced to censor a particular scene for a release in Australia, much to Australian gamers’ annoyance.

Aside from not having the best reputation with gamers themselves, Australia has also had a rough time with game studios, and with the recent closure of 2k Australia, there are no AAA developers remaining in the country. Perhaps finally realizing that alienating a multi-billion dollar industry is not good business, the Australian government has put out a request for suggestions on how it could salvage its floundering video game industry.

The Australian Senate says it is requesting suggestions regarding (via Parliament of Australia):

• how Australia can best set regulatory and taxation frameworks that will allow the local video game development industry to grow and fully meet its potential as a substantial employer,
• how Australia can attract video game companies to set up development operations in Australia and employ local staff,
• how export opportunities from Australia’s local video game industry can be maximised, and
• any other related matters.

So far there are only a handful of submissions on the site, the first of which comes from Adelaide-based game studio ODD Games Pty Ltd.

“The video game industry is best akin to that of the film industry whereby the success of the business lies on the typical hit or bust scenarios,” ODD Managing Director Ben Marsh wrote in the studio’s submission. “There are few companies that exist in the middle, and those that do exist in the middle often resort to ‘paid for work’ services to substitute revenue from loss of sales in their game titles. With this in mind I would suggest reviewing the existing regulatory and taxation frameworks that are available and work for the film industry with the view to adopting these for the game industry.”

Marsh also suggests that rather than trying to compete on cost, Australia needs to better facilitate connections between game makers and major partners like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and so on.

Several of the documents submitted to the site, including Marsh’s, suggest that the Australian government create one or more business development programs that encourage the establishment of small game companies. The country previously created the Australian Interactive Games Fund to augment the country’s game industry, but the program was cut last year.

If you are an Australian citizen and are interested in submitting your own suggestion on how the government can better support the country’s video game industry, you can find information how to do so on the Parliament of Australia website.

Photo by WikiImages (Pixabay)