Australian Goverment axes Australian Interactive Games fund in latest budget

Last tonight the first budget was handed down by the new Liberal lead Australian government.

Announced along with a myriad of other changes to the budget was the axing of the Australian Interactive Games Fund. It’s not immediate from but from 1 July 2014 the government will shut it down.

The budget documents say “The Government will achieve savings of $10.0 million (AUD) in 2014-15 by ceasing The Australian Interactive Games Fund from 1 July 2014, The savings from this measure will be redirected by the Government to repair the Budget and fund policy priorities.”

We spoke to Bruce Thomson from local indie developers Nnooo about the cuts and how it might affect the local industry. “The Interactive Games Fund was put in place to help rebuild the Australian video game industry. It was helping to create jobs, reverse the loss of experienced talent overseas and develop Australian intellectual property in an industry which generates more income globally than the film industry” Thomson told us in a statement.

“This wasn’t a government handout, but an investment in the future which was expected to be repaid many times over. The result of the immediate cessation of the Interactive Games Fund is to set this process back, all for a $10m cut in costs. This is very short-sighted government policy.”

Out of all the items cut in the budget this $10m is a drop in the ocean for the government and will be devastating for the local games industry which is always struggling to get ahead.