The industry association Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (IGEA) has published its latest report, according to which revenue for Australia’s games industry for FY2024/25 amounted to A$608.5 million. For comparison, in 2021 the same figure was estimated at A$185 million. However, this impressive growth is due less to a market boom and more to a major overhaul of the measurement methodology thanks to IGEA’s partnership with the analytics platform Sensor Tower.
The number is up, but it’s not a ‘sudden boom’
At first glance, the threefold increase in revenue looks headline-worthy. Meanwhile, the jump is primarily due to the fact that the report now includes additional platforms and revenue streams that were previously not captured. Studios that had previously been outside the sample are now reflected in the overall picture, and the figure has become significantly more complete and accurate.
This means that direct comparisons with prior years should be treated with caution. In practice, the industry did not triple in four years, but it turned out to be larger than previously thought.
How Sensor Tower helped refine the scale of the market
The partnership with Sensor Tower enabled IGEA to identify a set of Australian studios that did not respond to the traditional survey conducted with Bond University. For the first time, it was possible to include these companies’ revenue, which significantly affected the final estimate. Data quality and coverage improved substantially, although direct comparability with results from prior years, of course, decreases.
Sustained growth—not a statistical artifact
Ron Curry, CEO of IGEA, emphasized that behind the methodological refinement there is real momentum:
“The industry is experiencing sustained growth. The big jump this year is due to the fact that we expanded the list of platforms for which we collect data.”
According to him, obtaining accurate information led to “significant but accurate” reporting results.
The ecosystem’s maturity is reflected in studio age
The structure of the sector indicates that Australia’s games ecosystem has moved beyond the startup phase long ago. According to the report:
- 30% of studios have been operating for more than 10 years
- 19% have existed for 6 to 9 years
Behind these figures are teams that have learned to build robust production processes, plan project releases years ahead, and think in terms of sustainable, long-term businesses rather than one-off releases.
Jobs without sharp swings
Against the backdrop of the global wave of layoffs in the technology and games sectors, local statistics look relatively stable. The sector has 2,443 full-time positions. The report also separately notes hiring plans for 2026, primarily on the part of large studios.
Games as part of the creative and digital economy
The report emphasizes the contribution of game development to Australia’s creative and cultural economy. Ron Curry noted that Australia’s games industry specialists have cross-disciplinary skills that “transfer easily to other sectors and unlock significant potential for the digital, creative, and technical economy.”
The iGaming industry and its specifics
In Australia, there are virtually no studios that develop games for online casinos. This is due to the specifics of local legislation, which restricts the ability to freely test gambling products domestically. Popular online platforms, including those that offer players free cash bonus no deposit casinos Australia, are registered offshore. The same applies to the registration of studios engaged in gambling game development. Developers either relocate or register their companies abroad.
If an Australian company makes iGaming, it almost always targets European or Asian markets. And even then, there are few pure-play iGaming studios in the country.
Game development represents a full technology-and-creative stack:
- software development
- art and animation
- audio production
- writing and storytelling
- marketing and live operations (live ops)
This multi-disciplinary nature makes the sector a significant supplier of skilled talent for adjacent sectors of the economy.
What’s driving the change
Several factors are working at the same time. More complete data thanks to Sensor Tower makes it possible to make informed decisions. Government measures, in particular the Digital Games Tax Offset (a tax offset for digital games), give studios greater confidence to invest for the long term, and Creative Victoria programs provide support to indie teams. At the same time, 31% of studios are working on their first game, which indicates an influx of newcomers. In parallel, experienced teams are expanding headcount and scaling up production.
The industry is becoming more visible to the wider public
The stereotype of games as a niche form of entertainment is gradually fading. Major events such as PAX Aus and DreamHack draw large crowds, and the ACMI Game Worlds exhibition demonstrates growing interest in games culture. The international success of indie projects Hollow Knight and Cult of the Lamb has become a clear indicator of the competitiveness of Australian developers.
Near-term indicators
Among the indicators that will show the direction of further development are: methodology and data coverage updates in IGEA’s next reports, actual hiring trends in 2026, the real impact of the tax offset and regional grants, as well as the share of studios with debut projects and how quickly they transition to their next game.
IGEA is Australia’s industry association for interactive games and entertainment. The published report provides revenue estimates and key sector metrics for the FY2024/25 financial year, taking into account an expanded set of data sources.
