Labor Government has mobile phone games in classification fee crosshairs

David M Williams
Monday, 16 August 2010 13:26

Your IT - Entertainment

Never mind an R18+ rating for computer games; the Australian Federal government has discovered it is missing out on a bonanza from mobile game stores that have not paid for classification altogether. Could this be a revenue windfall or the death of mobile gaming in Australia?

The Australian Labor Party raised the issue of mobile phone games to be discussed at Standing Committee of Attorneys-General but which has now been delayed due to the coming Federal election.

The Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 requires computer games, along with other media, to be rated by the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

This act does not exclude games which are distributed and/or played on mobile phones. Yet it has emerged that the fees for classification - which range from $470 to $2,040 for computer games - has been effectively bypassed by the sellers of mobile games.

The most notable such seller is Apple who, through its App Store, provides absolutely thousands upon thousands of distinct gaming titles to owners of iPods, iPhones and iPads.

The compliance fees applicable sum up to millions of dollars and the Government isn't happy.

The office of Minister of Home Affairs, Brendan O'Connor, said he was 'concerned' about the classification of such mobile games and that he had 'put the wheels in motion' to address the problem.

While it would be unjust to expect a segment of the gaming market to be subject to classifications and another be exempt, the ramifications are significant.