The program aims to turbo-charge growth in the industry following support for BAFTA-award winning game Unpacking by Witch Beam, Team WIBY’s Phantom Abyss, and Screwtape Studio’s Damsel.

The funding injection comes just weeks after the state also turned on the nation’s most generous industry incentives to target multinational gaming studios and turn Queensland into a hotbed of digital games design.

The Screen Queensland grants and incentives are aimed at both bolstering the rapidly expanding sector and doing for local video gaming what similar incentives have helped achieve for the state’s film industry.

With Hollywood heavyweights and local productions flocking to Queensland, the state’s screen industry has generated $478 million in direct Queensland Production Expenditure through 37 films, series and games in the past year.

Nationally, the gaming industry alone is worth around $226 million.

Screen Queensland CEO Kylie Munnich said the new Game Grants Program replaced the Screen Finance Program that had supported the state’s indie game sector since 2015.

“Our new Game Grants Program is the next step to expanding the local games sector, with a deeper, more customised approach to supporting homegrown, diverse talent,” Munnich said.

“The seed funding adopts a tiered financial model to support Queensland practitioners at varying stages of their career – from emerging to established – as well as game projects at different phases of development.”

The Game Grants Program provides non-recoupable funding for Prototype, Vertical Slice/Early Access and Full Games Release, offering capped support of $20,000, $50,000 and $90,000 respectively for each phase.

CEO Ron Curry of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association, Australia and New Zealand’s peak industry association for the digital games industry, said the funding levers were vital for the games industry.

“We are confident that Queensland will see continued growth and employment in this sector and expand on the excellent results and reputation achieved across the world from games that have been created locally,” Curry said.

The Digital Games Incentive program, launched earlier this year, has already lured Australia’s largest publicly listed games developer, Melbourne’s PlaySide Studios, to Queensland.

Playside Studios, creator of The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, Jumanji: Epic Run, and The Lego Batman Movie App, is in the process of establishing its new studio on the Gold Coast.

Munnich said the Digital Games Incentive aimed to drive more local, interstate and international games studios to do business within the state.

Under the Incentive, a 15 per cent rebate for games projects is available for games studios based in Queensland with a minimum eligible spend of $250,000 within the state.