Following the Games Developers' Association of Australia's (GDAA) recent request that the Federal Government offer tax rebates similar to those received by the Australian film industry, the film insider said, "The problem with the games industry in this country is that it is full of many small studios that should be left on their own to see who survives."
Tom Crago, the President of the GDAA made a detailed response to this sentiment, but in short, it's reasonably clear that while he supports the film industry being funded, he also believes the games industry is equally entitled to financial support. Responding to the quote he stated, "...it's a bit rich for the film industry to say that games should go it alone. The fact is, we have gone it alone since day one, receiving no federal support whatsoever. In spite of this, we have been able to become far more viable commercially than our friends in film. The bottom line here is that screen culture in all its forms should be treated equally.”
The issue of tax concessions for the local games industry is a current hot topic and was also recently discussed in our interview with Not Quite Art Creator Marcus Westbury. When asked about the role of Government in supporting the games industry, Marcus answered, "I think the tax break is important, simply because people making games are competing with people making films, and people making television, and people making all these other forms for access to a fairly limited amount of money...so it's vitally important that games are at least on an equal playing field with those other forms."
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