The Queensland government has followed other states in opening its digital production incentive to game developers, offering a 15 per cent rebate to developers working in the state from next year.
Announced Tuesday by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, the move is aimed at supporting the local industry and attracting interstate and international games developers and studios to Queensland.
The Queensland Post-Production, Digital and Visual Effects (PDV) Attraction Incentive currently offers 15 per cent rebates for eligible expenditure above $500,000 for screen projects that use facilities in the state.
It only applies to “footloose” projects – those deemed to have alternative options interstate or internationally.
Next year, PDVA eligibility will be widened to include video game developers and the spend threshold will be halved to $250,000.
“My Government’s Post-Production, Digital and Visual Effects incentive is the most competitive on Australia’s eastern seaboard and is already a success, drawing screen productions here which create jobs for hundreds of our state’s screen experts,” Premier Palaszczuk said.
“By adding this new games’ incentive, local and international studios will be further motivated to outsource the creation of valuable game titles to Queensland, while our own locally based developers will be supported to create original games content right here.”
Queensland’s move to attract more game developer follows similar incentives introduced in South Australia last year and in New South Wales last month.
Both South Australia and Queensland now offer 10 per cent rebates to game developers through their own digital production schemes, while Victoria has made games development a focus for its new $190 million screen strategy.
At the federal level, a Digital Games Tax Offset will be available from mid-2022, offering eligible games businesses that spend a minimum of $500,000 on qualifying Australian games expenditure to receive a 30 per cent refundable tax offset.
Consultation is yet to get underway for the federal incentive, which still needs to define what expenditure will be eligible.
The Queensland government said the PDV Games Incentive will be offered from 2022 following industry consultation.
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