VicScreen locks in top international players for Play Now Melbourne

Play Now Melbourne 2023, photo by Sarah Chavdaroska.

Australia’s pre-eminent games market Play Now Melbourne is getting ready for a power-packed second year with even more of the world’s top game publishers, platform holders and investors set to attend.

ID@Xbox, Super Rare Games, Focus Entertainment, The Arcade Crew, and Cult Games, have now joined Devolver Digital, Raw Fury, Oculus Publishing from Meta, Team17, Massive Monster, Fellow Traveller, Akupara Games, Landfall, ASTRA Logical, UltraPlayers and PlaySide Studios to hunt for the most inventive new games to come out of Australia.

Presented by VicScreen, Victoria’s creative and economic screen development agency, with assistance from Screen Australia, Play Now Melbourne brings together local game developers, publishers, platform holders and investors, providing Australian creatives the unique opportunity to pitch their games to the international market and sell their games to the world.

At Play Now Melbourne 2023, there were representatives from 15 publishers and platform holders and over forty developer teams from across Australia who pitched their projects. This year the event has grown with more publishers taking part and over 150 meetings slated.

Play Now Melbourne will be held on Thursday 10 October, as part of Melbourne International Games Week (MIGW) this October.

Applications are now open for Australian developers to attend Play Now Melbourne. Applications close Wednesday 17 July. For more information visit vicscreen.vic.gov.au/playnow

VicScreen CEO Caroline Pitcher said, “Play Now Melbourne is a game-changer for Australian developers, offering world-class opportunities to showcase their creativity and build international connections, leading to rewarding careers. The level of the publishers, investors and platform holders taking part is testament to the international standing of Australian games.”

Screen Australia Head of Online and Games Lee Naimo said, “Play Now Melbourne fills a unique gap in the market for developers across Australia to network and get their projects in front of major players in the global games industry. Seeing the success of last year and the unique opportunities it provided local game makers, I’m proud to support this event as it expands its program and impact.”