For the first time, Australia is the official partner country of gamescom 2022, the world’s largest event for video games and Europe’s leading business platform for the games industry. The organizers of gamescom, Koelnmesse GmbH and game – the German games industry association, and the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association (‘IGEA’) have signed a partnership agreement.
The official partner country of gamescom 2022 is Australia
Australia will assume this official role of Official Country Partner and marks the biggest Australian joint booth at gamescom, with all Australian states presenting their combined games’ industry power. Australia is home to a rapidly expanding game development sector, with independent and mobile game creators leading the way and delivering numerous critically acclaimed and commercially successful titles to a global audience.
Australia’s government has recently committed to introducing a major tax offset for locally based games companies, further supporting and bolstering the industry’s growth and potential for further expansion.
All this makes the country an ideal partner for gamescom 2022, both in terms of its market potential and its industry specialisations. As gamescom’s partner country, Australia will represent international exhibitors on-site and online from 24 to 28 August 2022.
Hon Paul Fletcher MP, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts: “The Morrison Government is backing the Australian digital games sector all the way with our ground breaking 30 per cent tax offset for digital games. Australia’s partnership with gamescom 2022 is further evidence that we can punch above our weight in this $250 billion global industry.”
Felix Falk, Managing Director of the Game Association: “Australia is closely connected with the European games industry and a great partner country for gamescom 2022. Like Australia in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe – and especially Germany – is a major hub for the games industry and a fast-growing location for games. The close cooperation between Australia and Europe will support this positive development. And gamescom and gamescom asia are the perfect events to do this.”
Ron Curry, CEO IGEA (Interactive Games & Entertainment Association): “With the introduction of the Digital Games Tax Offset and the generous state government incentives, Australia is definitively open for business. We have some of the world’s greatest talent already doing amazing work here and we look forward to sharing this with the world, but also encouraging the world to bring their businesses to Australia.”
Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer at Koelnmesse: “We have used the past years to further develop gamescom digitally into the leading international event for the gaming community. With the return of gamescom to the exhibition grounds, we are pleased to continue our internationalization strategy there as well. Part of this strategy are the annually changing partner countries. We are therefore all the more pleased about the first-time partnership with Australia.”
