Given its historical ties to the U.K., Australia shares much in common with Britain. This extends to Australian tastes in games. As a part of the PAL region, Australia is often lumped in with Europe when it comes to sizing the overall market for games and other entertainment/electronic products.
With its historical Anglo-Western culture, much of Australia’s consumer trends are right in line with the U.S. and U.K. That means games like Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV will tend to soar right to the top of the charts in Australia. Of course, that is assuming the game is allowed in Australia. Australia has a different classification system for games run by the Office of Film and Literature Classification. The top rating available for video games in Australia is MA15+, as opposed to R18+ for films and DVD. Any game deemed unsuitable for the MA15+ rating is illegal for sale in Australia. Titles like “Dark Sector” and “Soldier of Fortune: Payback” have run into censorship problems in Australia.
Leaving censorship issues aside, the Australian game market is soaring. The Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia (IEAA) estimates that the Australian game industry reached a record high of $1.3 billion in 2007. In part this is rather remarkable because games are incredibly expensive in Australia. The Australian dollar (AUD) is roughly equivalent to the U.S. dollar (USD). Games typically retail for $100 or more. GTA IV launched at $120 in Australia. A system like the Nintendo Wii which retails for $250 in the U.S. commands $400 in Australia. Nevertheless, as the charts indicate, the per capita hardware purchase rate for video game systems in Australia is not that far behind the U.S. and well ahead of countries like Germany.
The retail scene in Australia will be very familiar to consumers in the U.S. or U.K. Mass merchants, especially Target, have a strong presence in Australia, but the fastest growing chains are U.S. based GameStop/EB Games and U.K. based GAME Group. In 2007 GameStop opened 60 new stores in Australia and revenues soared from $288 million in 2006 to $421 million in 2007. In 2006, GAME Group bought a 16-store Australian chain and in 2007 they opened 35 new stores in Australia. By the end of 2008, there are expected to be nearly 90 GAME stores in Australia.
While Australians may not appreciate being lumped in with India, another PAL territory, the latter’s continued growth as a video game market may help boost the prospects for more timely attention to Australia as well.