Displaying items by tag: iGEA

Minister for Superannuation, Financial Service and the Digital Economy Senator, Jane Hume has announced a Digital Economy Package for the video game industry, which is deemed to be “the most significant federal tax incentive to be implemented anywhere in the world.” The new funding will give Australian studios support to take on new projects and drive growth.

Social distancing and stay-home restrictions have brought about a boom in the number of Australians playing video games, with 762,000 new gamers getting into gaming during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, according to a new survey.

Things move fast in both the tech world and politics. Once the darling of the political landscape, it seems the Australian games development industry again needs to raise its profile. As such, the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA) chief executive Ron Curry has got on to the front foot with an open letter to Senator Mitch Fifield, the Minister for Communications and the Arts.

The New Zealand video and computer games industry generated NZ$424 million in revenue in 2016, a 7% increase on 2015 sales. Overall, it had NZ$125 million in retail sales, with an additional NZ$299 million in digital and mobile sales.

Phew! We can all rest easy in Australia it turns out that game Classification Board is doing its job.

The Interactive Games & Entertainment Association has labelled the call to review the classification of a number of  video games currently on the Australian market as a waste of time and tax-payers money, a move that could cost over $330,000.

The Australian Government has released the standalone Guidelines for the Classification of Computer Games which now includes the long awaited R18+ Classification.

The legislation to introduce the R18+ Classification for video games has passed through the Australian Senate securing a sensible homogenisation of rating systems across entertainment in Australia.  For the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association this has been a long drawn out win.

Despite general economic uncertainties, Australia's interactive games industry remains upbeat despite a 12.8 per cent contraction in 'traditional retail' computer and video games sales to $1.5 billion in 2011, according to Australia's Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (iGEA).

There is still some thrashing out to be had, but the Australian video games industry is welcoming an in-principle agreement for the introduction of a long-awaited R18+ classification for interactive entertainment. 

The Standing Committee of Attorneys General yesterday decided to delay their decision on the introduction of an R18+ classification for video games. This has raised the ire of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association who have described the decision as 'disappointing'¦ despite mass support from the Australian community'.

No concrete decision made today at the standing committee of Attorneys-General on a change to Australia's classification laws around interactive entertainment.  Instead the AG's agreed to introduce guidelines for judging the effect of an R18+ Classification introduction   iTWire spoke to Ron Curry from the interactive games & Entertainment Association (iGEA) about what this means for the local market.

As Christmas approaches, many kids will soon be unwrapping video games from under their Christmas tree. One company has released a set of videos to ensure kids are only playing the games Santa gave them.

The Australian State Attorneys General have met to discuss (among other pressing matters) the submissions provided to a discussion paper on the introduction of an R18+ Classification for Interactive Entertainment.  Despite 98% pro-submissions for the rating introduction, the AG department has asked for more deliberation time on the matter.  This has bemused the iGEA (interactive games & entertainment association), including CEO Ron Curry who spoke to iTWire.