Depending on where you look, 2023 was either an amazing year for the Australian games industry or one for serious concern, and 2024 could bring equally mixed fortunes.
Based on reports at the end of the financial year, which ran between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023, consumer sales for video games and associated products reached a record high. According to the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA), the games industry generated AU$4.21 billion in revenues, achieving 5% growth on the previous financial year.
As the leading representative and advocacy body for the games industry Down Under, the IGEA often provides a wealth of insightful data, providing facts and figures. This includes highlighting that in 2023, employment in game development rose by 17% and that looking ahead to 2024, 63% of studios plan to hire more staff.
But while the industry seems to be booming, and even with consumer spending showing consistent growth, contrasting reports have arisen via Aussie network ABC News. Their own investigating suggests that developers across the country endured a tough year, and the bumpy right could be set to continue through 2024, before gradually improving.
2023 was a great year for games development in Australia, producing various titles across different platforms that achieved global success and widespread acclaim. But scratch beneath the surface and many studios have fallen on hard times, largely because of complicated financial conditions, leading to investors and publishers tightening their belts.
Despite their impressive record for success in recent years, Melbourne developers League of Geeks downsized their workforce by half in November, due to investors withdrawing funding proposals. Located in the same city and in the same month, Samurai Punk closed its studio after 10 years of game development.
Meanwhile in Canberra, following exceptional growth in recent years, Uppercut Games announced they had adopted a “survival mode” approach, also reducing their staff by half. Essentially, despite the previous IGEA reports midway through 2023 having painted a rosy picture, many development studios had begun laying off staff by the end of the year.
Nevertheless, while the scaling back at larger companies is concerning news, the broader games industry appears to be surprisingly robust. One of the foundations of a buoyant games industry in Australia is the thriving indie scene, filled with individual developers and small studios, many of which are producing some of the most creative and innovative games.
Indie developers often sub-contract to larger studios or work on their own in-house projects, covering a wide range of niches, ranging from fascinating mobile games to the latest pokies at Australian real money casinos. Regarding the latter, online gambling continues to remain popular, given that more than 80% of Aussies play games related to betting and wagering.
The iGaming sector has consistently flourished, providing developers with opportunities to work on games that pack our favourite casino sites, plus the software that underpins their performance and capabilities. There’s also a rising tide of Web3 games development, based on blockchain technologies, and that’s empowering the next wave of Aussie gaming production.
Overall, while the future may seem quite gloomy for some developers and studios, others are looking ahead to 2024 with increased optimism, indicating that Australia will continue to remain a key player within the global games industry.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
