Search Grants & Funding

The Strategic Opportunities Program supports innovative projects designed to strengthen the NSW screen and digital games industries.

The objectives of the program are to fund projects that:

• Build capacity within the NSW screen and digital games industries
• Support the growth and capability of NSW screen and digital games practitioners, organisations and businesses
• Are aligned with one or more strategic priorities in the NSW Screen & Digital Games Strategy (2025-2027):
  • Priority 1 – Creating Stories
  • Priority 2 – Building Sustainable Growth
  • Priority 3 – Improving Capacity and Capability
  • Priority 4 – Developing Audiences to Increase Demand
• Increase industry participation for audiences and/or screen and digital games practitioners from one or more NSW Government key priority areas:
  • Regional NSW
  • Western Sydney
  • First Nations people
  • People from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
  • People living with disability
  • LGBTQIA+ people.

To be eligible for funding under the Strategic Opportunities Program, applicants must:

• Discuss their proposed project with Screen NSW staff before submitting an application
• Be an Australian organisation, including:
• Companies and not-for-profit incorporated bodies
• Co-operatives, trusts or local government authorities
• A consortium or a group of organisations working collaboratively*
• Have an Australian Business Number (ABN)
• Be legally constituted and able to provide proof of legal status
• Adhere to general eligibility requirements under the Screen NSW Terms of Trade.

*In the case of a consortium or group of organisations working collaboratively, one eligible organisation must be nominated as the lead organisation. If successful, the funding grant agreement will be between Screen NSW and the lead organisation.

The NSW Government is offering a 10 per cent rebate for eligible digital games. Games must have a Qualifying NSW Expenditure of at least $500,000 to be eligible.

An eligible project must commit at the time of application to qualifying expenditure of at least AU$500,000 on the project in NSW. The spend may occur over several years. Multiple projects cannot be bundled to achieve the AU$500,000 threshold. A major update of an existing game is eligible if it meets the $500,000 threshold.

Qualifying NSW games expenditure must be on activities carried out in NSW related to production of the launch version of the game. The pre-development stage, being activities that are usually undertaken with the aim of determining whether a digital game is commercially feasible, is excluded.

Eligible games for the Rebate include:

• Games for entertainment and serious games
• Games for any platform including console, desktop, tablet, mobile, VR/AR
• Multi-player and single-player games.

Games must generally be intended for public release.

An applicant must submit an application with Screen NSW prior to the commencement of any eligible work for which the Rebate is sought. If production has already commenced on the project, only work carried out on or after the date of application will be eligible for the Rebate.