The concern was raised in a submission by the Centre of Digital Excellence (Code) on the Dunedin City Council’s 2025-34 long-term plan.
Code is an economic development initiative by the government to grow the country’s gaming sector, its headquarters based in Dunedin.
The organisation sought a suggested $250,000 per annum for seven years, from July next year – $190,000 of which would equate to one prototype and one production grant per annum, with the rest allocated for events.
At a hearing on Wednesday, Code chief executive Tim Ponting said the organisation had been transformational for many aspects of the city’s creative community, the number of gaming studios more than quadrupling between 2020 and 2022.
In 2019, Code was given $10 million to invest in Dunedin from the government’s Kānoa – Regional Economic Development & Investment Unit. While this funding was ‘‘tapering to a close’’ in 2027, the heavy lifting had been done, Mr Ponting said.
A lot of time and money had been spent on curriculum development at both the university and polytechnic to the point where those courses were sustainable.
One-third of design students at the polytechnic were taking the games pathway, Mr Ponting said.
‘‘So we don’t need vast amounts of money to maintain the momentum, but we do need to maintain that momentum.
‘‘Otherwise, gradually Dunedin will slip back from being the most attractive place in New Zealand to make games to becoming one of the places in New Zealand to make games.’’
A ‘‘modest investment’’ from council on an annual basis would build on the foundation laid with the Kānoa funding and protect that legacy, Mr Ponting said.
He estimated it might take another decade before Dunedin’s gaming industry could operate without further support.
Cr Carmen Houlahan asked if the council could get a commercial return if it contributed funding towards games that ended up performing well.
But Mr Ponting said the nature of commercial deals in the gaming industry was it had ‘‘an allergy to public bodies having either equity or earnings’’.
‘‘It’s quite common in the film world but it’s not common in games, and we’ve been told that in no uncertain terms.
‘‘There are ways obviously that we can return value to the city from that investment, but in terms of that being a direct commercial return it’s not really possible.’’
Code’s remit was expanded in 2022 with a five-year $2.25m investment per annum from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for the allocation of grants to studios outside of Dunedin.
tim.scott@odt.co.nz
