And while the greatest ACT success story remains the 2K Australia studio – seller of reportedly more than 18 million Borderlands copies – plenty of more recent start-ups have reached the cusp of gaming fame.

The fourth annual independent game developers festival, iFest, brought together the city's budding creators at Watson Technology Park on November 29, including co-founders of the Wildgrass studio, who used last year's event to showcase their debut game Bearzerkers.

Tom Spratt, 24, from Higgins, developed the multiplayer survival game together with Alex Short, 22, and Matthew Korver and Parisa Nafis, both 21, and said it was exciting to be approached by console developers.

"It has been really cool to see the interest from Microsoft and Sony," Mr Spratt said.

"We're competing on an international standard."

The idea for Bearzerkers came within 48 hours at a competition weekend but the game – which allows players to set traps so other players are eaten by roaming bears – has taken more than 12 months' work ahead of an international release for PC early next year and Xbox1 and PlayStation4 soon after.

Mr Spratt said the Academy of Interactive Entertainment – which also operates in Sydney, Melbourne and, from next year, Adelaide – and its post-GFC incubator program were crucial to Canberra's gamer growth.

"It's where we all met each other, where we all learned our skills – and they are still somewhat supporting us with office space and some funding," he said.

"And the starting up of the game developers [group] this year has been great."

Matt Stimson led the founding of the Canberra branch of the International Game Developers Association in April and said there were about 120 people involved with the group, with an average of 50 people at meetings.

"I've surveyed the developers before about Canberra and there's a really strong desire to stay living here," he said.

"Unfortunately they're a bit pessimistic about jobs – that's more an industry challenge on a national level – but I think there's a real buzz about the game industry in the ACT."

Gamers even have an e-sport and gaming bar to combine a drink with play, after Reload opened in Civic on Saturday night.

Mr Stimson said Melbourne appeared to have Australia's highest rate of developers, as its game development meetings regularly attracted about 120 people from 2300 contacts, but said it was fair to suggest Canberra had the next best per capita numbers.

He said Australian developers should follow the lead of 2K and Queanbeyan's Uppercut Games and target an international market.

"Video games are a bigger industry than Hollywood these days – and it's easier to export software than coal," Mr Stimson said.