Australian video game development has more than doubled in size in the last six years, with over 770 new jobs created alone in the year. These statistics were compiled from the Australian Game Development Survey (SQA) survey conducted in the year seven.

This growth will continue, particularly with the introduction of the Digital Games Tax Offset (the 30 % refundable tax offset for the development of video games in Australia) and various other state-level initiatives.

The growth in revenue, employment and confidence in the local game development sector is incredible, said CEO Ron Curry in a statement. The business is growing, the studios are growing, and international companies and investors are taking notice of Australia.

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In 2016, in the first year of the survey, Australia’s video game development industry has experienced a 148,8% increase in revenue. It gave the sector a job boom, which has now risen to 104 people. About one-quarter of Australian studios are under five years old. Moreover, 61 percent of developers are planning on hiring this financial year, which would lead to a minimum of 300 new jobs.

Around one-quarter of Australian studios are under five.

We see smaller studios expand into medium-sized studios and large studios increase to over 100 employees, continued Curry. Australia finally can build and sustain a thriving games industry and game development ecosystem; however, these expanding studios face the key hurdles of reaching reach of mid-level talent, which is crucial for these expanding studios and dedicated financial support.

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The survey showed that the biggest challenge currently facing Australia games studios is securing employees with special skills like programmers and engineers. Artists and designers are among the games industry aspirations of to win games and which are in huge demand in Australia’s screen industry (which also benefit from a 30% tax incentive scheme available for producers of films and TV projects within Australia).

It emerged that Tapping into overseas is considered the most powerful solution to this skill shortage, but Curry stressed that it was important that the industry considers its future future pipeline of local talent.