South Australian government eyeing off surprise industry as major money-maker

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants are now up for grabs for South Australian video game developers, in a bid to drive growth in the budding industry.

The initiative seeks to capitalise on the success of the Adelaide-developed Hollow Knight: Silksong, a game so popular with its cult following it caused outages across the internet.

Grants of up to one hundred thousand dollars will be offered to support the creation of new South Australian video games.

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"Gaming is an incredible sector growing globally at an incredible rate," Arts Minister Andrea Michaels said.

"Here in South Australia, it is worth $36 million and we have got some incredible talent."

Rupert McPharlin, a local developer currently working on a game called Toya, hopes the funding will enable him to transition from the production stage to a market-ready product. 

He believes the grants will provide local talent with more time to dedicate to their craft. 

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"The most exciting thing is allowing more collaborative game development, because at the moment it's a hyper-competitive thing and most of us are doing it with other jobs," he said. 

"It would be a much better product in a much shorter time and everyone would be happy… I can't wait."

Experts estimate the gaming industry is worth more than the music and film industries combined, and it's hoped the grants will help South Australian developers get a foothold in the global market.

Applications for grants are now being accepted through the SA Film Corporation's website.

This article was produced with the assistance of 9ExPress.