Aussie Exports
The lack of opportunities in the Australian development industry to work on higher-quality and bigger name games titles has, over the years, pushed much home-grown talent overseas. This is something that the current industry is trying to stop, and in effect reverse the poaching of talent from overseas to work on Australia shores, which would then ensure rapid growth and prosperity.
Australian Andrew Wilson created a name for himself in the overseas games development industry overseas when he left Australia four and a half years ago to head up Electronic Arts' EA Sports Football division as Executive Producer in Vancouver. "I wanted to build games with real budgets and bigger teams, so that they could turn out to be quality products," he said. "I moved because the budget I had in Australia meant the games I wanted to build would not turn out as good as I wanted them to. I managed to convince someone that I knew what I was doing and here I am."
Born in Geelong, Wilson grew up in Queensland and moved to Sydney where he studied law. While working at a restaurant he met the then EA Pacific President, to whom he professed his love of video games. Not long after this meeting, Wilson found himself working at an EA studio on Queensland's Gold Coast where he was responsible for poaching licences from international surfers for an upcoming surfing title. He was there for three years before the studio shut down.
"At the time I entered the development industry there was a global phenomenon happening--the concept of the super studio," Wilson said. "Emerging big studios with big investments were popping up all over the world, and because Australia was such a long way away it was tough to get involved."
Skill shortages preyed on the industry's growth even then--some 30 to 40 per cent of people working with Wilson at EA in Queensland were brought in from overseas. Wilson says this is something that hasn't changed over the years. "The skills shortage is present in the worldwide games development industry, not just in Australia," he said. "Vancouver has more video game developers per capita than any other city in the entire world and EA has over 2,000 people building video games out there. It just comes down to the ability to attract talent."
Wilson thinks this is a challenge for Australia given its geographic location. "I know that there are a lot of people who would love to come to Australia and work, and they often ask me why I left in the first place. I left because the opportunities to work in bigger studios were overseas and compensation was more handsome and I was able to mix with more people that do what I do."
Wilson is passionate that the Australian industry will grow even more over the coming years. "When I first started in the industry, Australia and New Zealand were operating on a cost basis, so it was cheap for US companies to come down here and develop their games. In my opinion that switch was flipped a few years ago. That's been the real improvement for the local industry--publishers now come to Australia because we're quality developers, not just a cheap place to make games.
"As a result, when I'm looking at development, I'd love to bring it out to Australia. The reality with video game developers is that most people don't really mind where they live nearly as much as what they work on. They want to build great games, and work for the best people. As Australia starts to build local talent, a snowball effect will happen to a point where it will become easier and easier to get people down here to work. We're starting to deliver unbelievable product, and attracting development talent is only going to get easier. That's the kind of thing people will move across the world for."
Another Aussie who tried his luck overseas is Chris Ansell, 33, who is the Director of Studio Marketing for Radical Entertainment, and is also based in Vancouver. Ansell studied economics and marketing at the University of Wollongong, but left Australia 11 years after starting out in the industry working for Sony.
"I knew that I didn't want to market fast moving consumer goods since it's hard to get me excited about selling soap or corn flakes," Ansell said. "I asked myself what I loved most and the answer was immediate--games. I called Sony in Sydney and I offered my services for free for two weeks as a way to get my foot in the door and get some invaluable work experience. Over that time, the team there realised they needed a game guru who could help in the PR department, and the rest is history."
After scoring a position with Vivendi Games in Singapore, Ansell moved on to work with Radical, where he offers support to the studio's development teams on the essential marketing assets required to successfully launch video games. "The chance to actually sit within a large studio and support their needs was too good to pass up. In addition, the chance to work on Radical's incredible new original IP and work with the super-talented Crash Bandicoot team was a major sweetener."
Ansell believes that Australia needs its own games development industry, though he acknowledges the uphill battle facing the industry when it comes to attracting talent from overseas. He says the country is still a long way away from bringing the mass market into the world of gaming. "Australia has incredibly skilled people. Good policy would dictate a great need for supporting innovative development of software that drives new business to the Australian economy. The level of talent from Australian shores though is equal to the best in the world, so it's really got everything to gain as long as the support is there from the government. Singapore and Korea have both benefited greatly from strong direct support of local interactive entertainment initiatives by governmental bodies."
Ansell says the skills shortage in the Australian industry is symptomatic of the same general concerns globally, where only mass market acceptance of game devices in the living room will ultimately expand the size of the labour market. "I think as our generation moves into positions of authority over the next 10 to 20 years, our familiarity with video games as a true art-form will also help lure talent away from more traditionally accepted industries. It won't be long until even our politicians will have all played or experienced games like Guitar Hero at least once."
Lessons learned
The message from the GDAA's Tom Crago and other industry leaders seems to be that the industry's future prospects--with the injection of some government funding-are positive. Without this support, it can still be a rough environment for games development companies in Australia. One developer that found this out the hard way was Auran, whose studio closure last year sent shockwaves throughout the industry. Counted as one of Australia's biggest development studios at the time, Brisbane-based Auran was just two months into the release of its original IP--massively multiplayer online game Fury--when it announced that it would be going into voluntary administration and laying off all employees. Eight months later, Fury's servers were shut down. Auran CEO Tony Hilliam says the message to learn from Auran's example is loud and clear.
"The biggest lesson I learnt from this is don't bite off more than you can chew, and don't start something you can't finish," Hilliam said. "For the industry as a whole, the lesson is that unless you have the budget, the skills, the marketing dollars and a gap in the market to aim at, then don't try and take on the big boys. Find your niche or stick to work for hire."
This is good advice from a man who knows what can happen when a studio gets too eager about creating original IP. At the time of its release, Fury was one of the most ambitious games to come out of an Australian games studio, and was the first game to feature the coveted 'Australian Made' logo on the box. The game, which received lukewarm review scores globally, reportedly cost close to A$15 million to make. Undoubtedly, there was a lot riding on it for Auran.
"We tried to create a product that would be 'best in class' in an area that no one else had succeeded--the perfect player-versus-player game," Hilliam said. "There was definitely a combination of factors why Fury failed: budget, business model, design flaws, competitive market, and pressures to release before we were ready, and even the psyche of the player base we were targeting. That's quite a list."
Although Auran Developments no longer exists, Hilliam continues to work at Auran Games, developing the long-running Trainz franchise which is still operational. He says the first few months were the toughest to deal with.
"I actually spent the first few months trying hard not to have a total mental breakdown. It was a very hard blow to see years of effort turn to dust, but over time I realised that we had done all we could to make it work."
Hilliam agrees that Auran could have done with more government financial support when making Fury, something that could help local development studios from suffering the same fate as Auran. "Money was a big problem. Ultimately we released the game before it was polished enough to stand up in today's competitive environment. A government HECS scheme [similar to that of university students] would be a good initiative for the industry, where we could pay the income tax back out of our revenues."
The Federal Government only stepped in to support Auran when it was too late, paying the outstanding staff entitlements when Auran Developments shut down. If the same money had been present some six months prior, the studio might have managed to pull through.
"The industry needs money, there's no doubt about that. Whether it comes from government directly or indirectly by encouraging investment, it is definitely needed for the industry to survive."
This thought is echoed by GDAA President Tom Crago, who believes that with a tax-offset similar to that of the Australian film industry, the video game development industry could triple in size within a short period of time. "The big caveat here of course is access to talent, but if we can overcome that obstacle the sky really is the limit," Crago said. "It is conceivable that in time we could have as many developers employed here as in other hubs like Canada and South Korea. There is absolutely no reason why that can't be the case. And we could emerge as a leader in certain areas."
"In such a dynamic industry, though, this concept of 'what we're good at' is likely to be far from static. It will always be driven forward by those Australian companies who are innovating and who, absolutely, are the equal of developers anywhere in the world."
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The future of Australia’s game development industry
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