Australia was once considered a prime candidate for game companies to set up studios, but that mindset has died out, including Team Bondi and 2K Australia.
Despite these teams working on successful games, such as Bioshock trilogy and LA Noire, following the shutdowns the only thing to come out of Australia has been mobile games like Crossy Road.
Australian games journalist, Leah Williams, believes the lack of coverage for the sector makes it harder for Australian games to break through.
“An interesting article about a game’s development can be read and understood by anyone, particularly if the details are exciting, and the writing is interesting.” she said.
“Australia’s games scene has persevered through incredibly tough times, and I believe it will be okay even without games media.
“I do believe they’ll be okay. It will just mean slight changes to marketing strategy.”
Indie games developed by Australian companies have broken the drought on game development in Australia, assisting to bolster the sector.
In 2017, a small team based in Adelaide released Hollow Knight, a small game made on a small budget that took the world by storm, selling over 65,000 copies in a single month and going on to sell millions.
That game inspired more games and now Australia has a plethora of indie hits such as, Blue Manchu, Massive Monster and House House being among the bigger success stories of the Aussie indie wave.
But despite that success, Australian gamers are not aware they are made in Australia.
Founder of the UOW Video Game Society Lara Blair said she has little knowledge of the indie gaming industry.
“Within Australia? I know there’s been a few games popping up, but I couldn’t name you any. I know a lot that have been coming out, but I couldn’t name you any Australian companies or games to be completely honest,” she said.
“Untitled Goose Game was a very big indie game, but I never saw anything about it being Australian.
“It’s a bit weird they wouldn’t highlight that fact, if we had a big Australian community around that (the indie gaming scene) it would probably help a lot.”
Hints toward the revival of the Australian game development scene can be seen in the success of indie hits made within Australia, all that is lacking is the recognition.
The University of Wollongong now has a Video Game Society, giving gamers a place to socialise and bond over their shared hobby.
However, gaming and other traditionally ‘nerdy’ hobbies have a bad reputation of being hostile towards women entering the space.
UOWTV spoke to female students on campus who have little-to-no experience in gaming, as well as founder of UOW’s Video Game Society, Lara Blair, about the reputation and experience of gaming for the female demographic.