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Games development in Oz: a $137m man's world

by Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 08 April 2008
! According to the latest estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia's 45 digital game developers generated $136.9 million in income during 2006-07, reported an operating profit before tax of $8.5 million and an operating profit margin of 6.2 percent. And only 10 percent of the 1431 people employed were female. Related stories Australia spurns IT postgraduates: bad news for workers? Review: Spore – Creationists beware! IT&T jobs in free fall: new report Database managers get top IT dollar New Midnight Club Los Angeles trailer shows customisation options The major source of income was the provision of game development services ($116.9m), with most of that income (93 percent or $108m) coming from overseas businesses. Games developed for console formats (egPS2, PS3, Xbox, Wii) accounted for nearly three-quarters (71.1 percent or $83.2m) of game development services income. Games developed for PC and Mac formats accounted for 14.6 percent ($17.1m). Two states - Queensland and Victoria - accounted for the majority of game development income (40.4 percent and 33.2 percent respectively) and employment (48.6 percent and 33 percent). There were 1,431 people employed in game development services in Australia at the end of June 2007, 90 percent of them male. They comprised artists and animators (491 people or 34 percent) and programmers (417 people or 29 percent). There were 87 non-residents working in the industry at the end of June 2007. Further details are in Digital Game Development Services, Australia, 2006-07 (cat. no. 8515.0). Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment! Tags See All Tags Australian Bureau of Statistics Games Stuart Corner Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now