Chantelle Cole: NZ Game Development Sector Rebate Programme Director on jobs, revenue being on the rise

Gaming continues its upward trajectory. 

New stats show that in Wellington alone, jobs in the sector grew 12.8% over the last year. 

New Zealand now brings in $170 million more in revenue than Australia does. 

NZ Game Development Sector Rebate Programme Director Chantelle Cole told Mike Hosking the $170 million figure is just from the rebate recipients, so they’re expecting the number to rise upon the announcement of the industry-wide figures. 

She says revenue is predicted to reach a billion dollars by as early as 2027. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
As part of the economy really should be paying more
attention to us, alluding to before the news gaming's on
a bit of a tear at the moment and Wellington
alone jobs grew almost thirteen percent of the last year.
Three locally developed games have made the global top ten
now brings in one hundred and seventy million dollars more
than Australia in terms of revenue. Now Chantell Coal is
the director of Game Development Sector Rebate and as well
as Chantel Morning, Good Morning Mike, seven hundred and ten

(00:23):
in revenue in total see Winds two billion, Kiwi Fruits
at four billion, China Traders at twenty billion. So what's
the growth path for your sector and how quickly do
you get there?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, well, it's a really exciting time in game development
New Zealand at the moment, and it's seven hundred and
ten million is just from the Game Development Sector Rebate recipient,
so that's forty of New Zealand and medium to large students.
On Friday, the New Zealand Game Developers Association is going
to announce the industry wide figures. Who expects that will
go up and a projiction show we could reach a

(00:56):
billion dollars by as early as twenty twenty seven, and
it's really great to know that actually the global video
games industry is worth more than film and music combined
are whopping three hundred and twelve billion. So imagine what
the possibilities are and how we're going at this rate.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Exactly, are we eating other people's lunch or as the
whole sector globally.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Booming, Actually the global industry, by context, grew by just
two point one percent, so we're definitely eating other people's lunch.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
The sort of games we're producing, is there a theme
or not? Do we do a certain niche or not?

Speaker 2 (01:34):
We actually produce a lot of fantastic independent games to
eighty five percent of the games being made in New
Zealand our original ip but that are all sorts of genres.
You'll see just as many genres in games as you
will in books and films. So we're getting nature based
games that are there to educate people, right up to

(01:54):
parts of Exile, one of New Zealand's biggest games at Auckland,
which is more like a fantasy RPG.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
All right, what's going on Wellington? Is that a build
it and they'll come type scenario or games all over
the country, or developers all over the country.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
There are it's a bit of both. Wellington's always been
a fantastic creative capital, so eleven of the forty studios
that came into the rebate this year are actually based
in Wellington. But what I'm hearing on the ground is
there are a lot of startups starting to make their
way up through the ranks. So it's a really booming space.
That actually made up thirty four percent of the eligible

(02:28):
workers that qualified for the rebate this year.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
And when you say the rebate, we've done a number
of interviews on this and that the whole came out
of the Lord of the Rings thing and you know,
you get your tax and all. Are you involved in that?

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Now?

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Are you part of that makeup?

Speaker 2 (02:41):
No? No, that definitely sits outside of my wheelhouse.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Wright should you be should the industry be available, you know,
to attract talent and you get tax rebates on stuff
you produce.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Work more with film and TV? Is that what you mean? Yeah, well, yeah, definitely.
I think we want to build those connections across the
widest screen sector so we can raise the profile of
New Zealand and really attract more of that investment from overseas,
so yeah, we're definitely doing our best to start to
work together and we're starting to actually see some of
the games being made in New Zealand turned into films.

(03:15):
So there was a game that came out of christ
Church called Dredge which became incredibly popular. It was actually
baft and nominated and that has now actually been found
to be turned into a live action film. So there's
lots of opportunities for autome collaboration.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
What's the pathway structure? If you're sitting at school, do
you know about this?

Speaker 2 (03:34):
So we're starting to see incredible initiatives like to herd
a Tech which are going into schools and helping design
game development programs for kids to learn about these sorts
of spaces. We've even seen one of the founders of
grinding Gear Games in Auckland is actually starting a brand
new school in Auckland focused on Steam. So that's science, technology, engineering,

(03:55):
art and maths and a lot of the game developments,
adding to the guest lecturers in the university so that
we can really raise the profile of this in a
career for future generations because it really is at that
blending edge of technology and creativity.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Fantastic, super exciting. Good to talk to you. We'll stay
in touch and tell Cole who's the director of game
development of the sector rebuke. So gaming is off and running,
which is good. For more from the mic Asking Breakfast,
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