South Australian gaming companies head to the world’s largest gaming trade fair
The Department for Trade and Investment is supporting five South Australian gaming companies to attend the world’s largest gaming trade fair, Gamescom, in Cologne, Germany, later this month.
The five gaming companies that will be amongst the gaming industry’s most prominent players and publishers to attend the six-day trade fair from 23 to 28 August are:
We Made a Thing Studios: Will be showcasing their first game Box Knight. We Made a Thing began their careers as a digital content house specialising in creative development, production, and virtual production. Box Knight is their first game and is A funny, silly and irreverent action RPG roguelike. A mix of ‘the Office’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ with a comic like aesthetic.
Mighty Kingdom: Australia’s largest independent game studio. Headquartered in South Australia they have worked on titles such as Shopkins, Startrek, Peter Rabbit, Gabbys Dollhouse, Ava’s Manor and Wildlife. In 2020 Mighty Kingdom successfully IOP on the Australian Stock Exchange. In 2022 they released their first console title Conan Chop Chop.
Half Giant: Half Giant is an award-winning animation studio who specialise in content for the games industry. They are a full-service studio animation studio specialising in game trailers and cinematics. Half Giant has created trailers for titles Rogue Legacy 2, Cult of the Lamb, Merge Gardens and Boomerang Fu. Half Giant has recently begun development on their own game IP and will be using Gamescom to promote both their service work and game.
Golden Age Studios: Golden Age is a small indie team who make games that are Family friendly video games, developed with a love for the past and an eye for the future. Their Creative Director has been nominated for various awards. Their first game Tinker and Spell is a wild adventure filled with magic and mystery, exploring The Old World where you will encounter elemental spirts.
We Have Always Lived in the Forest: A female led studio, that will be showing off DarkwebStreamer, an internet-horror streamer RPG-sim game. DarkwebStreamer utilises their own proprietary AI technology that generates a random experience in the game each time. The AI uses natural language processing (NLP) and artificial psychology (AP) techniques.
Gamescom attracts more than 500 companies from around the world to participate, including renowned 2k Games, Bandai Namco, Koch Media, Sega, THQ Nordic, Ubisoft and WB Games. Anime, games and cosplay will be represented at the event, along with the opportunity to exchange ideas.
This year, Interactive Games and Entertainment Association Australia (IGEA), Austrade and state governments joined forces to create an Australian exhibition stand within Gamescom, with the aim to secure each studio with a direct investment or publishing deal.
The South Australian companies were selected in discussion with IGEA and have been supported to be on the Australian exhibition stand by the Department for Trade and Investment, Adelaide Economic Development Agency and the South Australian Film Corporation.
Tom Phillips, Writer and Development Producer at We Made a Thing Studios, said, “The talent here is immense and something we wanted to really entrench ourselves in.
“There are some awesome companies that become great magnets for talent at the higher end, but it is really promising to see a strong entrepreneurial force coming through with a solid wave of start-ups and SMEs establishing themselves,” continued Mr Phillips. “So, opportunities and support for a company like us – along with the other fantastic creators – to attend an international conference like Gamescom – is absolutely fantastic in fostering that space.
“With our game, Box Knight, nearing early access release, it’s a perfect time for us to get in front of publishers and market to find key partners to help finish and take the game to another level and a much bigger audience.
“We hope to find a key publishing and/or porting partner for our game, along with fostering ongoing relationships, networks with publishers and market support to not just help finish and promote Box Knight, but to create key relationships for further projects to come.”
The games sector in South Australia has more than doubled its economic contribution to South Australia – up 66 per cent – between 2017-18 and 2019-20, employing 286 FTEs, and contributing $36.2 million in Industry Gross Value Added with $45.3 million of turnover or exports[1].
Launched in 2020, as the first of its kind in Australia, the South Australian Film Corporation’s ground-breaking South Australia Video Game Development (VGD) Rebate, enables video games studios to claim a 10 per cent rebate on costs incurred to develop a game in South Australia. This is on top of the Australian Government’s 30 per cent tax offset for local and international businesses that develop digital games in Australia.
For further information on Gamescom visit https://www.gamescom.global/en
[1] Latest data available 2019-20.