VicScreen’s Play Now Melbourne returns

Play Now Melbourne 2023, photo by Sarah Chavdaroska.

Today the Minister for Creative Industries, Colin Brooks, announced that, after a knockout inaugural event last year, Australia’s pre-eminent games market, Play Now Melbourne is set to return for another round in 2024. 

Australia is renowned for creating some of the hottest and most innovative games in the world. Victoria is Australia’s games industry’s leading player with the largest number of games studios and workforce.  

Play Now Melbourne has positioned Victoria as Australia’s premier digital games marketplace. 

Presented by VicScreen, Victoria’s creative and economic screen development agency, Play Now Melbourne brings together local game developers, publishers, platform holders and investors, providing local 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.  

Leading global publishers such as Devolver Digital, Raw Fury, Oculus Publishing from Meta, Team17, Massive Monster, Fellow Traveller, Akupara Games, Landfall, ASTRA Logical, UltraPlayers and PlaySide Studios have signed up to attend.  

Play Now Melbourne is produced by VicScreen and will be part of an action-packed Melbourne International Games Week (MIGW) this October, with games industry leaders from around the world converging in Melbourne. 

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

Victorian Minister for Creative Industries, Colin Brooks said,  

“Games are big business around the globe and Victoria has a growing reputation as a hub for game development and innovation.”

“Through Melbourne International Games Week and events like Play Now Melbourne, we’re backing our local industry, creating more opportunities for local talent to connect with industry leaders and compete on the world stage.”

VicScreen CEO Caroline Pitcher said,

“Over $25 million worth of projects were presented at VicScreen's Play Now Melbourne in 2023, connecting local developers with international publishers and platform holders.  

This year Play Now has grown with more publishers taking part and over 150 meetings slated, creating more opportunities for local developers to sell their games to the world."