Australian Games Industry Glossary of Terms

Australian Games Industry Glossary of Terms 10 June 2026

From DAU and EULA to COT and QADE, here's a list of game industry terms, industry jargon and their general meanings, as compiled by staff at Screen Australia.

Please note: this is not a legal document and these are not legal definitions. Legal definitions are set out in various funding agreements with Screen Australia and these may differ to the definitions set out below. These definitions are intended for guidance purposes only, are non-binding and do not take precedence over similar terms that may appear in Screen Australia's Terms of Trade, funding guidelines, funding agreements or applicable legislation. In the event of inconsistency, the definitions set out in any contract with Screen Australia will prevail. For information about contracting with Screen Australia please refer to Screen Australia's website here.

A

AAA - pronounced Triple-A', a reference to big games with big budgets and relatively large teams.

Alpha - an early, incomplete yet playable version of a game, akin to a first draft, that includes core gameplay.

Augmented Reality or AR - a technology that overlays computer-generated information or game elements over a view of the real world, typically through a mobile device or specialised headset.

Assets - content or elements that are made for and used in a game, including art, sound effects, music, sprites, textures, models, animation, levels, etc.

B

Beta - an incomplete yet playable version of a game, further refined than an alpha, that includes most of the game's functionality and is ready to be playtested.

Budget - a document that outlines the costs to make your game. In the budget, an extensive itemised list is compiled to detail and track how much money is being spent and where. You may have heard about the A to Z' budget, which is one of the standard formats in Australia.

Build - an exported version of a game, usually stamped with a specific version number. May also refer to a set of weapons or armour a character equips.

C

Closed Beta Test or CBT - a beta testing period that occurs on an invite-only basis, and may often involve signing a non-disclosure agreement.

Client - a local game executable or launcher application that connects a player to a game server and communicates with it.

Console - an electronic hardware device typically connected to a screen that is used to play videogames. May also refer to a terminal' window that can be opened in-game to run developer commands.

Contingency - a portion of a budget that is earmarked for unforeseeable costs, such as overtime. It is often calculated as roughly 5% of total budgeted costs in the independent games sector.

Co-operative or co-op - a co-operative' mode of multiplayer games where players work together towards shared goals.

Chain of Title or COT - a compilation of documents and agreements that prove that an applicant or applicant company has all the necessary rights to produce, release and distribute a project.

D

Daily Active Users or DAU - a metric that counts the unique number of players who engage with a game on a given day, typically used as a quantitative measure of performance of a game, especially for online games and Free-to-Play (F2P) mobile games.

Debug - the process of troubleshooting and fixing errors (bugs) in a game's code, content or gameplay.

Demo - a limited, playable sample of a game released to showcase its gameplay and features before its full release.

Development - the end-to-end process of creating a game, including pre-production, production and release. May sometimes refer specifically to the pre-production phase. To note: use of development in the games industry is expressed differently to the screen industry.

Devkit - a specialised hardware and software kit provided by a platform holder to enable developers to build and test games for that platform.

Digital Games Tax Offset or DGTO - a 30% refundable tax offset for qualifying Australian development expenditure on eligible games, administered by the Office For The Arts (OFTA). Find out more about DGTO here.

Downloadable Content or DLC - new content released after a game's launch that adds new features, gameplay, levels, items, characters or story. DLC can range from free content to tiered pricing.

E

Early Access - a public release of an unfinished version of a game that players can buy and begin playing while development continues. This model allows gamemakers to gather player feedback while sales is able to contribute to financing the development of the game. Not to be confused with Presales.

End User License Agreement or EULA - a legal document that outlines the terms under which players may use a game.

F

Free-to-Play or F2P - a business model where a game is free to download and play with alternative methods of monetisation, including ads and in-app purchases.

Finance Plan - a document that outlines the different people, agencies and organisations who will be providing the funds to finance a project e.g. you might get funds from Publishers, Platform Holders and other funding sources such as state/federal screen agency grants and/or incentives. This is all reflected in a document called the Finance Plan. You can consult this sample finance plan to see how it would look. The Finance Plan also shows the percentage of each financier's contribution to the Budget and their share of equity.

FOSS or Free Open-Source Software - free software whose source code is publicly available to use, study, modify and distribute.

G

Games as a Service or GaaS - a business and development model where a game is continually updated with new content over time that allows for monetising content for sustained or continued income.

Game Engine - a software development tool that enables the creation of a game. Game engines often

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