Mighty Kingdom

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:19): My question is to the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. Can the minister inform the council about the great work being done by local games studio, Mighty Kingdom, which is a growing part of our creative services industry?

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment) (15:19): I would like to thank the honourable member for his ongoing interest in the gaming industry. On 29 January, I had the great pleasure of being given a tour of the Mighty Kingdom CBD office in Pirie Street by Mr Dan Thorsland, the general manager, Mr Philip Mayes, founder and CEO, and Mr Tony Lawrence, the chief operating officer.

Mighty Kingdom is Australia's largest independent game developer. Founded in 2010, it has released over 20 games for mobile use and the web and has over 45 million players across the globe. They have developed games for some of the biggest brands and companies in the world, including Shopkins, LEGO, Disney—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Let him answer in silence. You can pursue this at next question time tomorrow.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: They are in the process of developing multiple games across multiple formats primarily for the export market. For the past two years, Mighty Kingdom has also run a graduate program, which is the only one of its kind in Australia. Graduates are employed by Mighty Kingdom for one year to build their game development skills. They tell me that all the alumni go on through the program and have been subsequently employed, which is a fantastic outcome for all involved.

Mighty Kingdom currently employs over 50 staff and has plans to expand further, as the games industry continues to mature and grow in South Australia. Based on my probably unreliable estimates of ages of people, looking at the group working there I would say most of the workforce are in their late 20s or early 30s. Stopping the brain drain from South Australia is vitally important for our future, and it is a key priority of the Marshall Liberal government. It is industries and businesses like Mighty Kingdom that will provide the careers and futures of tomorrow.

It was fantastic to see firsthand the great work that Mighty Kingdom is undertaking and the employment opportunities it provides to a younger generation in a fast growing, globally competitive and highly skilled business environment. Not only that, it is the vast service export opportunities that are so exciting for this industry. Most of the audience is offshore in Asia, Europe and the US, and they are hungry for more forms of entertainment to get stuck into. We see this area as one of the great growth potential areas for the years and decades ahead.

Many thanks to the team at Mighty Kingdom for the tour and for explaining the incredibly skilled and complex work they do. It is interesting to note that we put up a little post on LinkedIn of my visit there. It has had in excess 18,000 views. It shows, sadly, the opposition is not interested but that 18,000 people across South Australia, Australia and the globe are interested in the great work that Mighty Kingdom is doing.

The PRESIDENT: Thank you, the Hon. Mr Ridgway. The time for questions without notice having expired, I now call on members to make—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Leader of the Opposition, the President is working.

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Ridgway, do not have private conversations or incite bad behaviour from the Leader of the Opposition whilst the President is speaking.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Can the Treasurer and the health minister have a conversation outside? It is distracting the President. I call on matters of interest. The Hon. Mr Parnell.