Australian games industry has been "obliterated"

Australian studio KMM Brisbane has closed less than a year after opening its doors, becoming the latest developer to shut down in the region following tough economic times.

The team of around 40 was made up of a significant portion of ex-Krome Studios staff which closed last year.

"The writing has been on the wall for a long time," Jason Stark, studio director at Krome told ABC. "But it's maybe a little surprising the extent to which it has happened.

"We've all expected the industry to be shrinking - it's been bad times. It's gone from being a mild contraction to being pretty much obliterated."

Stark blamed a lack of new projects, the poor Australian dollar and tax incentives in other regions for the decline.

Since 2009, console studios such as Pandemic, EA's Visceral, Krome and Team Bondi have all closed.

Stark claimed around 90 per cent of local developers are moving overseas to places such as Canada, "where streets are paved with video game gold."

"I'm personally not a believer in subsidising industries - I believe the free market should take care of it," he added.

"But having said that, we're losing a lot of talent, and your nation quickly gets to the point where if times do come good again, we're not going to have enough experienced people here to start the companies."