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What is the Games: Expansion Pack?
The Games: Expansion Pack is a Screen Australia initiative to help Australian game studios increase the ambition and quality of their digital games, and to transition into businesses of scale that can better compete in the global market.
Background
Screen Australia will provide grants for production of a digital game with a budget up to $500,000. The initiative will run for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 financial years. Higher budget games are likely to be able to receive Australian Government support through the announced Digital Games Tax Offset.
Funding
Applicants can apply for funding for a digital game that has a total budget up to $500,000. Applicants can request up to $150,000 per application in respect of a game.
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Eligible Projects
Games can be for any video game platform including PC, mobile, VR and console. The primary intention of the initiative is to fund the creation of new titles. However, applications for live ops development of existing games are eligible.
Games with co-financing from commercial partners or state agencies (including state based rebates) are eligible to apply.
The initiative will preference original game ideas, rather than licensed intellectual property. The following games are ineligible for support through this initiative:
- games not intended for supply to the general public (eg. a game to be used by a company for training purposes or by an institution, or a game limited to one or a small number of locations);
- games which are substantially advertising or promotions;
- gambling or gambling simulations; and
- games, that in the reasonable opinion of Screen Australia, may have difficulties receiving an Australian classification, due to the inclusion of content such as:
- instruction or promotion of crime, cruelty or violence; depictions of frequent, very high impact violence
- sexual activity; sexual violence; exploitative depictions
- instructional drug use; encouragement of drug use; interactive drug use
The initiative will preference original game ideas, rather than licensed intellectual property.
Eligible Applicants
This fund targets emerging or small to medium independent Australian game developers. A game studio is considered to be independent by Screen Australia if it is a private company (not listed on the ASX) and it is not majority owned or controlled by an overseas company. This also applies to any related companies.
There are no minimum credit requirements that applicants need to meet. Regardless, Games: Expansion Pack remains an initiative for professional developers.
Applicants need to be a company to apply. The applicant company should be the actual company that will carry out the development activities on the game (i.e. employs development staff and engages independent contractors).
Screen Australia can only fund Australian projects. In the context of digital games, this does not mean that the game must have an Australian theme. However, the game must predominantly be developed in Australia, under the key creative control of Australians or Australian residents, to be considered sufficiently Australian to be eligible for funding.
Timing
Applications close 4 May 2023.
More Information
Latest News
Screen Australia has announced 11 games that will share in over $1.5 million of funding through the Games: Expansion Pack fund, as part of the Federal Government’s National Cultural Policy, Revive. The games span VR, adventure, puzzle, platformer, horror, rhythm and more.
The Games: Expansion Pack first launched in March 2022, and the first round of funding distributed over $4 million to 30 Australian games.
The funded games include:
