The Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA) has released its annual snapshot on the Australian game development industry for 2023, and in spite of a year that’s been particularly harsh on studios worldwide and at home the results are hugely encouraging.
The big number – $345.5 million in income generated by Aussie game studios – is a massive 21% increase over the same reporting period last year, and comes from a reported 2458 total full time employees in the local game development scene (though these figures come from financial data dating July 1st 2022 – June 30th and so likely don’t account for some recent closures and layoffs).
It’s not just local support that’s propped up that huge revenue result either, with a whopping 87% of revenue from games sold being accounted for by overseas sales, meaning Aussie studios are doing a great job at exporting their work to audiences across the globe.
As far as the talent itself goes, there seems to be a good mix of junior and senior talent with 29% of respondents to the IGEA’s survey saying they’re developing their first game while at the top end 23% said they’d shipped 10 games or more. There’s still a bit of work to do when it comes to gender diversity though, with the studios tracked being made up of 69% male employees, 26% female and just 5% transgender, non-binary or gender diverse folks.
While 79% of the 111 responding studios are relatively small at 20 employees or less, more than half have been operating for six years or more, and the highest concentration of developers across the states and territories is in Victoria with 29% of all studios followed closely by NSW at 22% and QLD at 20%.
Today we released the Australian Game Development Industry snapshot for FY23 & the industry has continued its steady growth.
Given the challenging times facing industry globally, funding and support is necessary to ensure sustainable growth.
Learn more: https://t.co/kbNRGtoXdA pic.twitter.com/a7LV6XtXPa
— IGEA (@igea) December 17, 2023
“79% of studios have less than 20 employees, and nearly half of all studios (45%) have existed for less than five years, highlighting growth in independent and emerging businesses,” said Ron Curry, CEO of IGEA in an accompanying press release. “With continued government support to ensure success in our industry, we will likely see our younger studios turn into veterans – like the 32% of Australian studios that are 10 years or older today. We even have 63% of studios planning on hiring over this financial year, creating 200+ new jobs.”
“It is important to acknowledge that this is a challenging time for the industry and some studios are really feeling the effects. Funding and support must continue to ensure the long-term growth and success of the Australian industry so we can maintain the positive trajectory and continue contributing to the Australian economy and talent development.” Curry added.
You can find all of these stats and more in greater detail on the IGEA website.
