Kia ora koutou,
As 2025 draws to a close, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on what has been another incredible year for game development in Aotearoa. The industry continues to grow in creativity, capability and global reach, and we’re genuinely proud to play a small part in supporting that journey. It’s a privilege to work alongside you all and help contribute to the success you’re building.
As a quick recap, this year the Game Development Sector Rebate (GDSR) supported 40 game development studios to the tune of $22.44m. That’s a 24 percent increase in recipients from 2024, which showed that more studios are reaching the eligibility threshold and scaling up in response. We also saw a 20.5 percent lift in roles – a really encouraging sign that teams are growing, people and original IP are staying here in Aotearoa, and local studios are strengthening their presence on the global stage.
We’re also delighted that the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) confirmed that the GDSR will remain a cornerstone of our support for the industry beyond 2027. Your ongoing feedback, openness and engagement has been instrumental in shaping the programme, so we are really pleased to see the GDSR staying in play long term.
Some key dates
We will be straight back into it in the new year, preparing to kick off GDSR 2026. Here are some key dates to get into your calendar:
- Registration for GDSR 2026 will open on Tuesday, 20 January 2026. Please note that even if you have applied for the GDSR before, you still need to register. Once your Registration is approved, you can download the Financial Details Template and Game Details Template in advance of Applications opening. There are some minor updates to these templates underway, which will be completed in February (see below for more details) so we would encourage you to review those once they are available.
- GDSR Applications then open on Wednesday 1 April 2026 and will close on Friday 15 May at 4pm NZT.
Webinars
We will be hosting two webinars in early 2026 to run through the GDSR process:
- Tuesday 3 February: This webinar is designed for those who might be new to the GDSR and preparing for GDSR Registration. We will run through the GDSR process and also cover off the updates to the templates.
- Tuesday 17 March: This webinar will be held prior to applications opening and will step through the full application process as well as dive deeper into the financial reporting and expectations.
Both these sessions will be hosted by the NZGDA and NZ On Air, and include an opportunity for Q&A with our team. Keep an eye on our GDSR Update in January to register for the webinars. If you are not yet signed up for the GDSR Updates, you can sign up for those here.
Updated Templates and Policy
To make the assessment process even smoother for GDSR 2026, we will be making some small refinements to some of our key documents and will have those ready for you in February in the lead up to applications opening in April.
These include minor changes to the Financial Details Template and Game Details Template to streamline them for further clarity and accuracy, and some updates to the GDSR Policy document, GDSR Guidelines and GDSR Terms of Trade. These refinements won’t change the meaning or intent of the documents, they’ll simply make everything clearer and easier to follow. We will let you know as soon as the updated documents are available on our website.
If, however, you are already compiling information for your GDSR 2026 application, just keep in mind that you’ll need to transfer that to the updated Financial Details Template and Game Details Template when they become available. Keep an eye out for our GDSR Update in the new year for more information.
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