As 2009 winds slowly to a close, we look back on what has been, for most, a very stressful year. And they say that in times of stress, people turn to the entertainment industry for solace. But who does the entertainment industry turn to when they need solace? And for that matter, do they even need solace at all? We sat down for a chat with the major players in the Australian video game industry to see how they were faring, and what they were looking forward to for the year ahead.

Victoria has traditionally been one of the strongest states for games development, with a sheer number of studios that dwarfs all the other states and territories combined (except Queensland). Many attribute this to strong government incentives, and indeed more than a few studio representatives were only too happy to tell us how much they appreciated the aid of bodies such as Film Victoria, and Multimedia Victoria, during the trying times of 2009. So how has 2009 affected what is arguably the game development hub of Australia?

Big Ant
2009 was a quiet year for Big Ant with only one release: the PS2 title Short Track Racing: Trading Paint. Next year however promises to be more exciting, with Big Ant scoring the licenses to the next AFL game and The World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars as well as working on an unnamed, original IP. Though our attempts to communicate with Big Ant were about as fruitful as shouting at real ants, it seems like this Melbourne developer is in position for a very successful new year.

Blue Tongue
Since their 2008 success with the award-winning de Blob, Blue Tongue moved on to release one game for 2009: Marvel Super Hero Squad, for the Wii. Though it received fairly average reviews, sales figures have been solid and Blue Tongue have remained largely unaffected by the downturn in the global economy. We attempted to sneak into THQ HQ to see what they had planned for Blue Tongue in 2010, but unfortunately their doors had some sort of “lock” mechanism on them, and we had to turn back.

Firemint
Firemint have had a very successful year and they’re not afraid to tell people about it - their iPhone game Flight Control alone has sold over 1.6 million copies. And at $0.99 a pop, it doesn’t take a calculator to work exactly how much success that is. Their other releases, such as Real Racing have also garnered significant critical acclaim.

It’s been enough to attract the attention of Game Developer Magazine, who placed Firemint’s CEO, Rob Murray, in their list of “50 Important People in Games”, alongside Steve Jobs, Peter Moore and Satoru Iwata. The Victorian Government also recognised this success, awarding them an Australian Export Award - the first games company ever to win such an award.

Though they would not reveal to games.on.net any upcoming releases for 2010, Firemint did ask us to pass on that they are, in contrast to the rest of the industry, currently hiring more developers. Check out their website for more information.

Infinite Interactive
Developers of 2007’s surprise hit Puzzle Quest, Infinite Interactive put out two more puzzling titles this year: Puzzle Kingdoms and Neopets: Puzzle Adventure, both to positive reception. Unfortunately though we were unable to get comment from Infinite directly, news reports coming out this week indicated that the studio was recently forced to lay off six people following the wind-up of their Puzzle Chronicles project with Konami. With a studio size of around 40, these six layoffs represent a significant portion of their workforce. Despite this, Infinite does have a strong release line-up planned for next year including Puzzle Quest 2 and Arrr!. It seems Infinite might finally be moving back towards games without the word “puzzle” in the title - only time will tell if the market is ready for this sort of innovation.

Red Tribe
2009 was a quiet year for Red Tribe - no games were released, and their company website is covered in spider webs and overgrown with weeds. Despite this, somebody seems to be updating their Wikipedia entry, which promises two new titles in development for the Nintendo Wii, and “unannounced PS3 projects”. Since Red Tribe didn’t return our calls or emails we can’t confirm this to you - but at least the studio seems to be alive, if not kicking. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Tantalus
Though it’s been a tough year for Tantalus with many titles put on hold, this Melbourne-based studio has still managed to rack up sales of close to, or over one million units each for three separate titles - Cars: Master National, MX vs ATV: Unleashed and Pony Friends. As a matter of fact, Pony Friends has become the biggest-selling single-format game ever developed in Australia, an honour that Tantalus rightfully enjoys telling people about.

Handheld platforms like the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP have proved the most profitable for Tantalus in 2009, with the company also focussing its attention on the Nintendo Wii and the PC to a lesser extent. CEO Tom Crago revealed to games.on.net that Tantalus would continue shipping all the way to the end of 2009, with Cars: Race-o-Rama just being released, and MX vs ATV: Reflex coming in the next few weeks.

Though he would not let any details slip, Tom also told us that Tantalus has at least four new games planned to ship in 2010, including two large, unannounced movie properties. We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on Tantalus to see what develops.

Torus
Torus Games have spent 2009 busily beavering away on their game engine and tools development, and were only too happy to tell us about the leaps and bounds they are taking. Using their new engine, Torus have developed three original products, two exclusively for the Nintendo Wii. 2009 also saw Torus release Scooby-Doo: First Frights for the Wii, with sales figures showing a strong success for the Melbourne studio.

Speaking to games.on.net, Kevin McIntosh, head of production at Torus, lamented the more risk-averse nature of the industry in the current financial climate.

“The AAA projects haven’t slowed down, but the mid-size projects have become thin on the ground and there are quite a few more budget projects available as publishers attempt to spread their risk across multiple titles and get the most bang for their buck... Lots of conversations are happening, but few decisions are being made.”

Kevin was tight-lipped on what was in store for 2010, but he did mention that hopefully Torus would be able to make some big announcements come February.

Transmission Games
One of the unfortunate casualties of the global financial downturn, Transmission Games (formerly IR Gurus) closed its doors and went into receivership in October of 2009, putting their 100-odd employees out of work. Sadly, 2009 had been a successful year for the developer, with Ashes Cricket 2009 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 receiving universal critical acclaim and high sales figures, as well as the less-well-received Heroes over Europe.

Transmission Games has been one of the longest standing games studios in Australia, founded in 1996 by Craig Laughton, Andrew Niere, and Ian Cunliffe. During their thirteen-year operation the company produced some of the Australian industry’s most internationally successful titles including the well-received Heroes of the Pacific. games.on.net offers its deepest sympathies to those employees who were affected by the closure.

Wicked Witch Software
First rising to fame with a PC port of Red Tribe’s Space Chimps, 2009 has seen Wicked Witch release four games under their sports licenses: two each for the AFL and NRL codes, and all to generally positive acclaim. Unfortunately Wicked Witch were unable to get back to us in time for this publication, so we do not know what they have planned for the future - but if these sports license successes are any indication, we can be sure that Wicked Witch will continue to grow strongly in 2010.

Click here to read Part 2 of this series, as we examine sunny Queensland.