Australian games industry

Discussion in 'General Gossip, Troll Wars & Game Development' started by SatanicDeath, Dec 27, 2007.

  1. SatanicDeath

    SatanicDeath Lurker Not From Round Here

    Hi all,

    Just registered and clocking up 1 post.

    I'm looking at the Australian industry and seeing studios shut down (Perception, Auran, Ratbag) yet others are expanding.

    What are these studios doing wrong, and what are the successful studios doing right?

    Thoughts?

    SatanicDeath
     
  2. RocketPoweredRodent

    RocketPoweredRodent Lurker Not From Round Here

    Every case is different at a business level, but a couple of common factors are size of the developer and quality of the environment / management. Sometimes its just luck of the draw. However I do sense that larger publishers are more comfortable dealing with bigger studios than small fry these days (especially in Oz) where as several years ago this was not the case.

    Also we used to be cheaper bang for buck because of the Aussy Dollars weakness but its no longer a case of "get ya games made cheap down under!"...

    Further more, this industry has everything you need for regular company explosions - increasingly high technology on a year by year basis, tight dead lines and budgets, cut throat competitiveness, amazingly talented competition and most of all a hugely high turnover of people compared to other industries, so your experience base and talent is always walking out the door to be replaced by shining faced teens barely out of puberty. We are in a situation now where if you have completed one project you are considered senior! I think we will see more carnage in the games industry in the next 5 years or so.

    RP
     
  3. a1studmuffin

    a1studmuffin Gamer One Of Us

    My very Melbourne-centric 2c:

    I think the brain drain has been affecting Australia for the last 5 years - if you wanted to find well paid, stable work, the US or the UK was the place to go. But in the last year or so it feels like it's starting to turn back around a bit more as some of the better independent Aussie studios are being bought by internationals, plus some internationals are opening up their own new studios in Oz (eg. EA in Melbourne). I think the smaller studios here have probably been struggling to compete with the internationals in terms of keeping their employees happy with salary, quality of projects, established technology, support + infrastructure, and job security... so when lots of good experienced employees leave the small studios for greener pastures, it's just a matter of time before problems arise. Sure there's plenty of juniors around willing to take their place, but taking on too many juniors at once/putting them in positions of responsibility too early on can be disastrous for a project (and company if that one project is all they're riding on), not to mention the juniors' egos (until the house of cards falls down).

    I certainly got the impression before I left for the UK that (in Melbourne at least) there were a lot of arrogant (but not really much good) programmers around.

    So to summarise, it's basically just the classic game of big fish eating little fish. At least some of the big fish have offices in Australia now.
     
    Last edited: Jan 9, 2008
  4. Highfive

    Highfive Hardcore Gamer One Of Us

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