Multimedia Victoria - Game on for Richmond firm's Export Kudos

Game on for Richmond firm's Export Kudos


Wednesday, 21 October 2009

Richmond game developer Firemint has been named Arts and Entertainment Exporter of the Year at the prestigious 2009 Governor of Victoria Export Awards.

The Minister for Industry and Trade, Martin Pakula, presented the 10-year-old company with its Award at a gala celebration at Melbourne’s Government House last night.

The firm, founded by CEO Robert Murray, specialises in game development for a variety of platforms, principally mobile phones.

“Firemint has shown it has what it takes to succeed in a challenging global economy,” Mr Pakula said.

“This award recognises that Firemint has a reputation for delivering the highest possible quality video games, while achieving sustainable organic growth.”

“The release of its first self-published game, Flight Control, for iPhone and iPod touch quickly became one of the fastest-ever selling iPhone games.”

The company’s second self-published title, Real Racing, has won numerous awards and been critically acclaimed as the ‘best iPhone racing game’ and one of the best iPhone games of any genre.

“This Victorian leader is now regarded as one of the top mobile games developers in the world and the ‘Made by Firemint’ logo is rightly seen as a stamp of quality that publishers gladly exhibit on their titles,” he said.

Firemint is one of two game developers to win a Governor’s export award this year, with South Melbourne’s Tantalus Media winning the Information and Communications Technology award.

The commendee in the Arts and Entertainment category was Torus Games of Bayswater, one of the most prolific video game developers in Australia.

“Now in their 30th year, these Awards celebrate Victoria's export achievers across 13 categories from arts and entertainment, education and training, to small business, manufacturing and agribusiness” Mr Pakula said.

“The 2009 Award winners are to be congratulated for overcoming difficult economic conditions to demonstrate the range of achievements still possible in global markets,” he said Mr Pakula said the Brumby Government’s sponsorship of the Awards formed part of its broad-ranging strategy to boost exports and promote a global focus.

“Exports of Victorian goods over the 2009 financial year totalled $20.4 billion – only slightly down from the previous year’s $20.5 billion,” Mr Pakula said.