Screen Australia has announced AUD $1.4 million will be provided to 26 Australian game-making teams, to support the creation of new video games. Funds will also be provided to the Freeplay team to support its upcoming calendar of events, ensuring Australian developers can gain access to the skills and advice they need to grow.
‘Digital games are a billion dollar global industry and Australia’s sector is growing every year,’ Tony Burke, Minister for the Arts said in a press release. ‘This funding ensures that we’re backing home-grown talent in order to be at the top of the leader board.’
Since 2024, Screen Australia has invested a total of AUD $3 million in the local Australian games industry, providing support for the creation of 49 games. The organisation has also supported initiatives like the Future Leaders Delegation to aid developers with travel to GDC, as well as providing funds to ten unique festivals and events spotlighting Australian games.
The latest round of Screen Australia funding will elevate a variety of creative projects from around the country, including cosy fantasy adventure games, small town mysteries, and one game about a very brave little mouse.
‘What struck me about these projects is the depth of talent and the distinctiveness of the content; the diversity of our culture, communities, landscapes and stories really shines through. We’re seeing games being developed all across the country including regional towns such as Wallabadah in NSW and Toongabbie in Victoria,’ Joey Egger, Head of Games at Screen Australia said.
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‘It’s also incredibly exciting to see another round of projects transitioning from the Emerging Gamemakers Fund through to the Games Production Fund. It reinforces our unique position as an end-to-end avenue for Australian gamemakers to take their projects from concept to prototype, to production and then launch.’
Here’s the full list of games set to be supported by Screen Australia’s latest round of games funding.
Screen Australia: All the latest games funded
- Ashes (VIC) – This game follows 16-year-old skater Azar Warren who, after witnessing a
murder, takes refuge in a rural compound with her estranged grandfather.
- Buru and The Old People (NSW) – A narrative-driven adventure game set in a vibrant
anthropomorphic world rich in Indigenous storytelling.
- Nothing To Do Summer Vacation – Part 1 (NT) – In this game, Summer is bored out of her mind in the small town of Driftwood, until fresh mysteries come calling to be uncovered.
- Penguin Colony (VIC) – Players explore the depths of Antarctica at their own pace as different penguins – unravelling difficult truths along the way.
- Retopia (NSW) – Retopia follows a cast of quirky robot companions as they restore life to a collapsed world by salvaging lost technology, rebuilding community, and nurturing a floating sanctuary in the sky.
- Fern: Seed Guardian (WA) – In a fantastical Australian bushland, a brave native mouse
battles an encroaching, mysterious goo. She must overcome not only this encroaching danger
but also her deep fears, as the Goo uses them to manipulate her perception of reality.
- Slumbering Woods (QLD) – In a world recovering from a long-past climate catastrophe, players help a flooded village thrive, rebuild and find their way home along the way.
Additional projects supported by the Games Production Fund include: Bravest Coconut (QLD), Mission Delta (VIC), Dungeon Breakers (NSW), and Rocketcard Defence (ACT).
Screen Australia’s Emerging Gamemakers Fund will support the following titles: SCAV (VIC), Pixellated (VIC), Dead Zone Mycologist (VIC), Dicot (VIC), Ash and Earth: Wilderness Reclaimed (NSW), Spin Spirits (WA), Eclipsia (NSW), Untitled Cube Game (Working Title) (QLD), Stewards of Nu Juno (QLD), Displaced: Oath of Tomes (VIC), Kaiju Critters (QLD) and Trinket (NSW).
You can learn more about all of these games on the Screen Australia website.
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