GDAA CEO Steps down

News from Yug - Thursday, 19 June 2008 @ 5:50pm

The CEO of the GDAA (Game Developer's Association of Australia) Greg Bondar has announced he will be stepping down from the position as of ... well, tomorrow pretty much. Although this departure appears to be fairly sudden, Greg has been involved with the association for over 18 months now.

Greg's involvement in the GDAA over the last year and a half polarised the opinions of the local industry - while publicly the profile of the game development industry seems to have been raised to the point that government ministers are taking attention of the lack of tax breaks (although not enough to do anything about it yet), I've heard of people butting heads and being frustrated with his approach to certain issues. Personally, all my dealings with him were positive, given that he asked myself and Matt to give an award at last years GCAP awards ceremony, which was good fun ... even though I was totally trollied while I tripped my way to the stage.

Although all you general gamers might not really care about any of this, it is significant news for the local industry, as it raises alot of questions regarding the current state of the GDAA and the upcoming conference later this year. I had a chance to ask Greg a few questions before he finishes up, so click the link to read more.
Greg Bondar: It is always difficult to try and highlight the achievements as a lot of these were ‘in-house’ so to speak such as re-writing the GDAA Constitution; forming functional committees and starting up professional training etc.

However, I think our achievements were:

1. Tax Breaks – we are now right and squarely in front of Government on this issue and they are now starting to act – wait for a soon to be made announcement,
2. Stronger relationships with key industry bodies such as IEAA and AIMIA,
3. A more international focus with the GDAA brand being more recognisble, and
4. A more commercial and profitable GCAP conference

No doubt people have their own views on these. I am still in the industry so hope to be keeping in touch.



Greg Bondar: Absolutely – we are now being consulted and asked for our input. Moreover, we are being noticed overseas as well. The Federal Government is now ready to support game developers and we are working to make an announcement soon.



Greg Bondar: Yes sure and it relates to ‘unity’ – there are a lot of non-members out there that benefit from the work of the GDAA and I encourage any non-members to ‘play the game’ and get on board and support the industry by supporting the GDAA through membership.



Greg Bondar: Hope not as I have left it in good hands and GCAP 08 should be a great show and I am hoping to attend.