30 September 2015 Christopher Dunn

Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications PO Box 6100 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600

Re: Inquiry into the future of Australia’s video game development industry

To the Committee Secretary,

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this inquiry. I apologise for the tardiness of my submission.

I have responded to the terms of reference as an independent game developer recently returned to Australia. I know little of tax or business practice and merely wish that the Australian video games industry become self-sustaining. I humbly request that my submission be tabled amongst its peers and hope that the suggestions enclosed within are of some use to the Committee.

Kind regards,

Christopher Dunn

Summary of recommendations:

The future of Australia's video game development industry, with particular reference to: a ­ 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

Consider an amalgamation of the Film and Video game industries.

Consider tax incentives for Australian-owned game companies that employ Australian staff within Australia.

Consider tax incentives for foreign owned game-development companies or publishers that employ Australian staff, operate within Australia, and represent Australian developers. b ­ how Australia can attract video game companies to set up development operations in Australia and employ local staff

Initiate Australian Government funding of game developers and publishers.

Financial incentives for Australian-owned industry to invest in or sponsor video games or incubator studios.

Financial incentives for foreign game publishers to distribute Australian Indie Games within Australia and overseas.

Restrict foreign investment from purchasing entire video game companies, encourage sale of IP instead.

Fund research into Australian computer/mobile/console/component development. c ­ how export opportunities from Australia's local video game industry can be maximised, and

Encourage video game developers to create Australian-themed characters or games.

Consider “Australian-themed games” as advertising material for Tourism Australia.

Advertise Australian video games at international fairs and expos.

Invite foreign game publishers to Australian video game fairs and expos.

Fund development of Australian themed e-sport games or e-sport programs.

Promote Australian participation in international e-sport events. d ­ Other related matters; (none) The future of Australia's video game development industry, with particular reference to: a ­ 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

According to a recent rankings list [1] of the top 100 countries by ‘game revenues’, the top six countries were given as America, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Australia was ranked thirteenth.

We can improve the situation of the Australian position by exploring what ‘regulatory and taxation frameworks’ are in place in other successful countries.

How did the game industry become self sustaining in America?

The US appears to see the video game industry as a newly-developing offshoot of the Film industry, and treat it as such. This means that game developers can apply for Film grants, and vice versa. A recent example can be found in Texas [2];

“Texas now ranks second in the nation, behind California, in video game employment, with roughly 5,000 residents working in the industry. This is driven by one of the largest tax incentive programs in the nation, which offers cash grants to video game productions for wages paid to Texas residents. Texas legislators have allocated $85 million to the program for next year.”

America has 27 other grants, differing by state [3]. Generally, these laws offer 20 - 30% rebate on expenses incurred for projects that fall within a certain ranges. Examples include:

Alabama Film Incentive: Rebates on 35% of Alabama labour, 25% of non­payroll expenditure. Total production cost must fall between $US500,000 and $US20 million.

Entertainment Industry Investment Act (Georgia): 20% to 30% tax credit. Project must spend minimum $US500,000 on qualified Georgia expenditures, entire project has a fiscal year cap of $25 million.

Digital Interactive Media and Software Development Incentive (Louisiana): 35% tax credit on labour, 25% tax credit on expenses. No cap, no minimum requirement, option to take a rebate worth 85% of tax credit.

Digital Media Credit (North Carolina): 15% of wages, 20% on research expenses paid to NC schools. Minimum $US50,000 spend to qualify, $7.5 million cap on credits received.

While the figures reflect the US market, the general trend can easily be seen. These distinctions are not unique to the US.

The UK, currently ranked sixth behind Germany, has taken decisive action to claim a larger slice of the game revenue pie. The UK expects that treating the video game industry in the same way they treated their film industry will be effective. They considered how the film industry grew, and tax incentives were identified as the best way to lure developers [4].

A different kind of requirement applies to these UK developed games than US ones - the developer must pass a European Union mandated ‘cultural test’ to prove that their game is “British” enough. Some examples might be sets located in England, or if the default game language is English.

This has the effect of advertising for the UK to a foreign audience. A counter-example provided was “Angry Birds”[5], a game developed by Rovio, Finland. Finland is a member state of the European Union. Yet, when it was time for the titular characters to go to space, they encountered the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) instead of the European Space Agency (ESA).

The (UK) Independent Game Developers Association released a handy fifteen page document [6] describing exactly what qualifies for the tax incentives. The document also holds the UK Government directly responsible for their declining video game industry in the last seven years.

Some key points are:

“In 2007/2008, game developers in many countries received tax breaks for games ​ production or other significant support. No such tax breaks existed in the UK ​ and so the industry declined. Between 2008 and 2011, employment in the sector ​ fell by over 10 percent and investment by £ 48 million.” ​

“A video game qualifies for this relief if: a ­ it is intended for supply to the general public b ­ it is certified by the Secretary of State as a British video game, and c ­ at least 25% of the “core expenditure” on the game incurred by the company ​ is European economic area (EEA) expenditure. This relates to expenditure on ​ goods/services used and consumed in the EEA (a just and reasonable apportionment would be used where expenditure is a mix of EEA and non­EEA).”

“In broad terms, the video games development company may claim an additional ​ tax deduction, based on its qualifying expenditure on the relevant video game. ​ The additional deduction is calculated as 100% of the lower of: ­ core expenditure incurred in the EEA in relation to that video game; and ­ 80% of core expenditure incurred in relation to that video game.”

These laws passed into effect in 2014 so no data yet is available to see their effectiveness.

Following the example of America and the UK, Australia could consider our own film industry and video games industry as related entities. We can then review the Australian Film Industry and its funding to see if an effective solution for the video game industry can be identified.

In 2006, the Australian Government announced the “Review of Australian Government Film Funding Support” [7], and invited submissions from interested parties. The outcome of this review was to be the Australian Screen Production Incentive (ASPI) [8].

As stated, the Incentive -

"provides generous tax incentives for film, television and other screen ​ production in Australia and is available in three streams: the Producer Offset, to encourage the production of Australian film and ​ ​ television projects. For information on this offset visit Screen Australia which administers this scheme the Location Offset, a 16.5 per cent rebate which supports the production ​ ​ of large­budget film and television projects shot in Australia the PDV Offset, a 30 per cent rebate which supports work on post, digital ​ ​ and visual effects production (PDV) in Australia, regardless of where a project is shot."

Screen Australia states [9] that the Producer Offset is -

40 percent of qualifying Australian production expenditure incurred in making a ​ ​ ​ film 20 percent of qualifying Australian production expenditure incurred in making ​ ​ ​ programs other than feature films.

The key points to take away are that any production should be Australian made, it should also be made in Australia, and it must be funded by Australia. The measure does not seem to take into account Australian employment figures. Before we can recommend this to the video game industry, we must first identify if these measures successful.

A review in 2010 of the Australian Independent Screen Production sector [10] claimed:

“Early signs show that the Producer Offset is encouraging domestic feature film ​ production, with total production expenditure in 2009­12 of $265 million ​ representing an 88 per cent increase above the five­year pre­Producer offset ​ average.”

“In 2009­10, total production expenditure in Australia was a record $731 ​ ​ million, well above the fire­year pre­Producer Offset average of $547 million.” ​ ​

“The Producer Offset is encouraging increasing interest in Australia as a ​ ​ co­production partner.”

In response to this, the Government made further announcements in the 2011-12 budget. These measures included providing support to a wider range of productions to increase the film tax offsets’ effectiveness, aligning the scope of qualifying Australian production expenditure with standard industry practices, improving mechanisms for supporting documentary productions; and funding for a comprehensive screen industry survey to be undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

A Post-Implementation Review of these measures was completed [11] but is not yet fully available.

What is visible in this Post-Implementation Review states:

“The PIR found that the measure benefited Australian producers, Australians ​ ​ working in the screen industry and related vendors, and was received favourably by the sector. Applications for the Post, Digital and Visual Effects offset and the Producer offset increased as a result of relaxing eligibility conditions, reducing expenditure thresholds and increasing offset rates. The PIR was assessed as compliant by the Office of Best Practice Regulation. The PIR estimates the regulatory savings of the measure at $190,000 per annum.” ​

The ASPI has now been in place for nearly ten years. The two Government reviews have found that the Incentive provided positive growth for the Film and Television industry. Each review has also made further recommendations that expand the scope or relax restrictions of the Incentive.

It appears the measures introduced by the Government in 2006 were successful. This was apparently recognized by the Government, and measures to emulate this success in the video industry were initially attempted as an ‘Interactive Games Fund’ in 2012. The Fund was inexplicably withdrawn in 2013 [12].

It is reasonable to expect that a similar funding arrangement, either in the form of the Interactive Games Fund, or some form similar to the Australian Screen Production Incentive, would promote the video game industry in Australia. Additional reviews would be necessary to further amend a hypothetical Video Game Incentive to better meet the unique requirements of the industry.

Recommendations:

Consider an amalgamation of the Film and Video game industries.

Consider tax incentives for Australian-owned game companies that employ Australian staff within Australia.

Consider tax incentives for foreign owned game-development companies or publishers that employ Australian staff, operate within Australia, and represent Australian developers.

The future of Australia's video game development industry, with particular reference to: b ­ how Australia can attract video game companies to set up development operations in Australia and employ local staff

A news article published by the ABC in 2011 [13] warned of the current situation in a bleakly titled article “Australian video game studios face obliteration”. Some key highlights:

“there are three main reasons Australian game studios are shutting down: the high Australian dollar, tax breaks for game developers overseas and a decline ​ ​ in middle­ground games.”

“the main reason for the loss of local jobs is the high Australian dollar is ​ making it unprofitable for big overseas publishers to fund video game development in Australia.” ​

“another reason for the collapse is that tax breaks for video game studios ​ overseas mean companies are moving wherever they get the biggest incentives.” ​ ​ ​

“about 90 per cent of local developers move overseas when a studio shuts and ​ ​ only a handful who have families or commitments remain in Australia to take on uninspiring roles.”

"Either people are moving overseas or they are seriously downgrading their ​ ​ ​ career choices." ​

In short, game companies aren’t investing in Australia, because it’s cheaper to do it elsewhere. Additionally, experienced staff are leaving Australia, reducing the pool of talented individuals who would otherwise strengthen our video game industry. Despite this, the value of the industry in Australia is continuing to climb.

In 2014, the Australian video game industry yielded $2.46 billion [14], an increase of 20% from 2013. The main areas of increase were console sales (Nintendo, XBox, Playstation) and mobile device sales, in particular, in-app purchases - aka ‘micro-transactions’.

This figure is somewhat misleading. Australia does not produce her own consoles, and few Australian game companies can develop for consoles at all. Console sales were cited as a ‘main areas of increase’ but this did not necessarily reflect Australian game development. It does underscore the Australian consumer’s appetite for games. It would be better if they were buying Australian.

The relationship between ‘Game Developer’ and ‘Game Publisher’ is also important. The comparison is similar to a recording studio and an artist. The artist cannot afford the funding of mass production of material, marketing, distribution, legal fees, etc. The video game industry also has developers and publishers. Without publishers to market games, developers can’t get their product to the customer, and without developers making games, publishers can’t turn a profit. Both are needed.

Australia has many independent game developers. There previously existed a number of large AAA video game companies in Australia; the last one (2K Australia) announced in April 2015 that it would be closing down [15], citing business costs and inability to relocate to a cheaper location. Some Australian-owned publishers do exist, such as Surprise Attack [16]. These represent Indie games and are perhaps not currently suitable for a large scale production. It is also possible for Australian developers to employ overseas publishers such as Steam [17]. Since they are not Australian owned, they have no obligation to favour Australian games. Sales that should rightfully be going into Australian publisher’s pockets and strengthening our own industry are being lost overseas.

There are also AAA company distributors with branches in Australia, such as Wargaming.net [18] and Activision-Blizzard [19], however no game development takes place in their Australian offices. They are naturally not Australian owned.

There is little marketing force available to represent Australian games in Australia at a scope to match foreign advertising forces in Australia. This is a significant issue. Australian consumers are unaware of Australian-made games, and are unable to easily identify and purchase them should they wish to do so.

To summarise, Australia is currently unattractive to foreign video game developers as a development base. The identified obstacles are:

1 ­ There is no requirement to invest.

Australians are already purchasing overseas produced video games in preference to Australian video games. This may be due to an inability of Australian game developers to advertise their products at the same level or simply because Australian’s cannot find or identify Australian-made games.

Australians also pay a higher price [20] for the same product than their overseas counterparts. The lead video game distributor, EB Games, is part of an American owned company, Gamestop [21]. Foreign companies therefore do not need to try to ‘break into’ the Australian market, it is effectively already saturated by overseas interest. Conversely, Australian developers and publishers are finding it difficult to break into their own home market.

2 ­ Due to the cost of doing business in Australia, it is convenient to merely purchase/acquire promising Australian talent/IP.

Some Australian video game companies have been acquired by foreign companies and closed down shortly afterwards. Notable examples are Blue Tongue Entertainment [22] and Ratbag Games [23], acquired by THQ and Midway Studios respectively. Ratbag in particular was acquired in April and closed December that same year. Others remain in business, such as Firemonkey Studios [24] (acquired by Electronic Arts in 2012).

A better story occurred for BigWorld [25], which in 2012 sold their Massively Multiplayer Online software to Wargaming.net for $45 million, yet continued to remain an independent company. This is the kind of foreign investment Australia should like to encourage.

When studios do close, experienced staff migrate overseas. It’s also likely that many inexperienced beginners venture overseas to start their career, and never come back. This continues to contribute to the decline of the video game industry.

On the surface, it seems that the trivial solution is merely to provide tax incentives to foreign companies that invest here. However, foreign companies already have all the benefits of development and publishing in Australia, without having any of the associated costs. Offering incentives to do business here will essentially be giving free money away without achieving anything. The current trouble with the Australian video game industry is blamed in part by the strong Australian dollar. Should the strength of the dollar change abruptly, it’s difficult to predict foreign investment behavior.

It’s therefore not practical to rely on foreign investment alone to strengthen Australian industry. Perhaps a middle-ground can be found. We can once again consider the Austin-American example. Forbes [2] observes:

“Today’s video game industry is not unlike the early days of film where a gold rush mentality is unfolding. Which states will win the gaming industry’s home base mantle ­ and how? Tax incentives will certainly play a role. But so will things like quality of life for Gen Y programmers and graphic artists, proximity to major publishers like Activision, EA and Take Two and the growth of a support system of investors, app developers and console manufacturers.”

Major publishers? Support system of investors? Console manufacturers in Australia? Australia does not currently produce its own consoles, mobile phones, or computers. According to a recent trade profile [26], Australia’s top ten imports include “computers” and “telephones”. There is a high demand for this market within Australia. Additionally, amongst our top 20 exports, most are found to be raw or barely refined materials, such as coal, copper ore, raw aluminium, and nickel.

Many of the ingredients of an Australian-grown technical hardware industry exist and are not being used effectively. What Australia exports, it soon buys back at an inflated rate. Consider a world where Australia creates it’s own technical equipment - if not complete computers or phones, at least some portion of the parts and chips.

In regards to ‘support system of investors’, we have seen that ‘investors’ are only interested when a tax incentive is available. Once that incentive dries up, or if a better deal can be found elsewhere, the foreign interest wanes. Australia could capitalise on this by providing tax incentives as suggested in section a to publishers and developers that in some way promote or support Australian video games ​ industry.

Some hypothetical tax rebate qualifications might be:

Publishers that sell a certain number of Indie games/range of titles per year. Developers that employ a certain percentage of Australian staff per year. Companies that provide a certain amount of funds to Australian incubator game studios, such as Monkeystack [27] or the Academy of Interactive Entertainment [28].

(An incubator is a company that helps new and startup companies to develop by providing services such as management training or office space.[29])

This method ensures some number of Australian developers are getting ahead, without allowing foreign interest to completely run rampant. There is still the remaining issue that there’s nothing to stop the benevolent company from headhunting their new staff and shipping them off overseas.

An improved strategy might be to open up these same ‘tax break’ avenues to Australian-owned businesses that elect to invest in Australian developers. This allows the same benefits as foreign investment, with the additional guarantee that Australian interest remains in Australia and reduces the likelihood that talent is simply bought out. We wouldn’t expect a mining company to have much interest in video game developers as staff - but they might be interested in investing in the company if it meant softer tax rates. This is in effect an Australian business-developer sponsorship program.

One problem with this approach is that game development can be a risky and expensive business [30]. Developing a game from start to finish may take several years and oversight is required. Independent game developers could be required to present regular status reports or project milestones to an independent investigative committee, for example a local state Independent Game Developer’s Association, or a government panel.

The key recommendation is that there should be some kind of system in place whereby the Australian Government, Australian companies or foreign companies, can invest directly into the Australian video game industry in exchange for some kind of financial benefit. There must also be restrictions in place to prevent foreign companies from acquiring Australian video game developers, and requirements on foreign publishers operating in Australia to represent Australian Indie developers here and overseas.

The video game industry yielded $2.46 billion in 2014 with no outside assistance from other industry or the Government and is continuing to grow. The end goal for any strategy for the video game industry is for it to become large enough that it is self-sufficient.

Investment in Australian video game developers and publishers by the Australian government, or other Australian industry, will rapidly push the video game industry past this breakpoint.

Recommendations:

Approve Australian Government funding of game developers and publishers.

Financial incentives for Australian-owned industry to invest in or sponsor video games or incubator studios.

Financial incentives/requirements for foreign game publishers to distribute Australian Indie Games within Australia and overseas.

Restrict foreign investment from purchasing entire video game companies, encourage sale of IP instead.

Fund research into Australian computer/mobile/console/component development.

The future of Australia's video game development industry, with particular reference to: c - how export opportunities from Australia's local video game industry can be maximised

Australian video game developers could capitalise on Australian themed video games or tourist-friendly applications. Some of the Tourism Australia’s 2013-2014 Annual report [31] highlights are $102 billion in visitor expenditure, with 53% of visitors sharing their holiday experience online while on holiday in ​ Australia. The report broadly suggests visitor’s continued interest in Australian flora, fauna and ​ landmarks, and that they are increasingly technically savvy.

There are many successful game and game franchises based on animal characters [32], such as ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’, ‘Battletoads’, ‘Fox McCloud’, ‘Crash Bandicoot’, ‘Knuckles the Echidna’, and even ‘Spyro the Dragon’. Australian animals are particularly unique and popular throughout the world - it seems this is a good avenue to pursue for Australian themed game characters.

One iconic example is ‘Ty the Tasmanian Tiger’ by Krome Studios [33], which depicts an anthropomorphic Tasmanian Tiger wielding boomerangs and other Australian-themed clothing. This should be explored further. Australia has all manner of wildlife, landmarks, events and icons.

A glance at Australian literature quickly yields some other compelling examples - Blinky Bill [34], Possum Magic [35], The Magic Pudding [36], Dreamtime stories, ANZAC legacy, history of the bushrangers, settlement and early exploration of Australia, and so on. There are a cornucopia of inspirations to be found in our land that can easily appeal to foreign audiences simply because it is Australian. Where Britain constrained their developers to make “British games” as a tax incentive, Australia could produce “Aussie games” for tourism.

The aforementioned tourism report also underscores the importance of Australian representatives visiting our neighbours, in particular our Asian neighbours, and inviting them to our country. Representatives from our games industry could be sent to game expos held in other countries, as well as inviting publishers from other countries to visit our own, with the intent of providing more exposure to the Australian video game industry.

In addition to the direct production and sales of video games, secondary fields exist, such as e-sports, game streaming, game magazines, and more. The market for e-sports was worth $374 million in the Asia-Pacific region in 2014 [37] and is expected to grow in future. E-sports are video games played at a professional level, and Australians do participate and win.

Much as famous Australian sporting heroes represent Australia, there is no reason we can’t support our own e-sport heroes. A victory in the most unlikely of scenarios - the 1984 America’s Cup [38] - won Australia fame and respect for a generation. A recent survey in Australia found [39]:

98% of homes with children have computer games 68% of Australians play video games The average game length played per day is 88 minutes 90% of playing parents play with their children The average age of players is 33 years.

With statistics like these (and more), the future of Australian e-sports looks bright. At this time, there are no Australian-owned companies that have released an e-sports game [40], although Wargaming.net’s game “World of Tanks” [41] uses an engine provided by BigWorld, an Australian company. Subsequently, BigWorld is now one of the largest and most experienced development studios in the country.

E-sports games are immensely popular around the world, and if Australia can develop our own, it would be a major win for our video game and tourism industries. If it has Australian themes, all the better.

Recommendations

Encourage video game developers to create Australian-themed characters or games.

Consider “Australian-themed games” as advertising material for Tourism Australia.

Advertise Australian video games at international fairs and expos.

Invite foreign game publishers to Australian video game fairs and expos.

Fund development of Australian themed e-sport games or e-sport programs.

Promote Australian participation in international e-sport events.

The future of Australia's video game development industry, with particular reference to: d ­ Other related matters ​ ​

(No recommendations)

References and links appear overleaf. References ­ All websites accessed online during September 2015.

[1] “Ranking of Top 100 countries by game revenue”, http://www.newzoo.com/free/rankings/top­100­countries­by­game­revenues/ ​

[2] “Will Tax Incentives Make Austin The Video Game Capital Of The World?”, 28 January 2014, Newspaper article, Joe Harpaz, http://www.forbes.com/sites/joeharpaz/2014/01/28/will­tax­incentives­make­austin­the­video­game­capital­of­the­world/

[3] “Gaming Tax Credits: A Developer’s Guide To Free Money”, article 24 May 2013, http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013­05­22­gaming­tax­credits­a­developers­guide­to­free­money

[4] “Britain Uses Tax Breaks to Lure Digital­Game Developers”, Lisa Fleisher, Wall Street Journal, March 30 2013, http://www.wsj.com/articles/britain­bets­tax­breaks­will­lure­game­developers­1427746924

[5] “Angry Birds”, https://www.angrybirds.com/

[6] “TIGA ­ A GUIDE TO VIDEO GAMES TAX RELIEF”, TIGA and Grant Thornton, June 2014, http://www.tiga.org/repository/documents/editorfiles/reports/june_2014___guide_to_video_games_tax_relief.pdf

[7] “Review of Australian Government Film Funding Support 2006”, http://arts.gov.au/film­tv/industry­reviews/2006­review ​

[8] “Australian Screen Production Incentive”, http://arts.gov.au/film­tv/australian­screen­production­incentive

[9] “Screen Australia Producer Offset”, http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/producer_offset/default.aspx

[10] “2010 Review of the Australian Independent Screen Production Sector”, February 2011, http://arts.gov.au/about­office­arts/public­consultations­submissions/archived­consultations/2010­review­australian­ind

[11] “Enhancements from the Review of the Australian Independent Screen Production Sector”, September 2015, http://ris.dpmc.gov.au/2015/09/16/enhancements­from­the­review­of­the­australian­independent­screen­production­sector/

[12] “Interactive Games Fund Consultation”, http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/about_us/new_directions/games_consult.aspx ​

[13] “Australian video game studios face obliteration”, News article, Daniel Miller 19 Oct 2011, Australian Broadcasting Commission, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011­10­17/australian­game­dev­studios­shutting­down/3575196

[14] “Australian game sales surge in 2014”, Media Release, 4 March 2015, at http://www.igea.net/2015/03/australian­game­sales­surge­2014/ ​

[15] “2K Australia In Canberra Closes Its Doors”, Media Release, Mark Serrels 16 April 2015, http://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/04/2k­australia­in­canberra­closes­its­doors/

[16] Surprise Attack Consulting, http://surpriseattack.com.au/

[17] “So you’d like to have your game on Steam?”, https://www.steampowered.com/steamworks/FAQ.php

[18] “Wargaming.net”, www.wargaming.net

[19] “Activision­Blizzard”, www.activisionblizzard.com

[20] “Australia Tax”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Tax

[21] EB Games, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EB_Games

[22] “Blue Tongue Entertainment”, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Tongue_Entertainment

[23] “Ratbag Games”, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratbag_Games

[24] “Firemonkey Studios”, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firemonkeys_Studios

[25] “BigWorld”, www.bigworldtech.com

[26] “OEC: Australia (AUS) Profile of Exports, Imports and Trade Partners”, https://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/aus/ ​

[27] Monkeystack, http://monkeystack.com.au/contact/

[28] Academy of Interactive Entertainment, http://www.aie.edu.au/courses/incubator_program/incubator

[29] Business Incubator, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_incubator

[30] “Take­Two CEO: Video Game Development is an Expensive and Risky Business”, opinion piece, Zarmena Khan February 15 2015, http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2015/02/15/strauss­zelnick­on­video­game­development/

[31] “Annual Report 2013­2014”, Tourism­Australia, Geoff Dixon 1 Oct 2014, accessed online at http://www.tourism.australia.com/documents/corporate/Tourism­Australia­Annual­Report­2013­2014.pdf

[32] “Category: Animal characters in video games”, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Animal_characters_in_video_games ​

[33] Krome Studios, http://www.kromestudios.com/

[34] “Blinky Bill”, Dorothy Wall 1993

[35] “Possum Magic”, Mem Fox 1983

[36] “The Magic Pudding”, Norman Lindsay 1918

[37] "Professional e­sports tipped to flourish in Australia despite low internet speeds", Thuy Ong, Steptember 2015, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015­09­01/e­sports­to­flourish­in­australia­despite­low­internet­speeds/6739022

[38] “1983 America’s Cup”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_America's_Cup

[39] “Digital Australia 2016”, http://www.igea.net/2015/07/digital­australia­2016­da16/

[40] “List of esports games”, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_esports_games

[41] “World of Tanks”, www.wargaming.net