It can be easy, in these strange and disconcerting times, to become embroiled in doom and gloom. To think you’re alone facing the stressors of the modern world. To see headline after headline, particularly about the games industry, and think the worst of the future.
PAX Aus 2026 pushed back on this darkness and made clear that through tough times, the desire and need to game, to play, is more important than ever. In fact, the community it encourages is what will help to buoy everyone going forward.
Games spark a pure joy. During PAX Aus 2026, you could find it everywhere, on all levels of Melbourne’s MCEC.
PAX Aus 2026 roundup – quick links
The joy of discovering a new indie game
One of the most popular areas during PAX Aus 2026 was PAX Rising and the PAX Aus Indie Showcase, where independent game developers showed off their latest creations.
Being a fly on the wall, you could hear so many folks discussing which games appealed and what they were adding to their wishlists on Steam. You could hear excited chatter about what was next on the agenda (Tiny Transit came up more than once, for its light-hearted driving shenanigans) and what booths stood out in their eyes.
My Arms Are Longer Now (Toot Games), a silly physics puzzle game featuring a long, ever-growing sentient arm, was a major highlight. A refreshed demo (compared to last year) showed off an array of puzzles, with the silly arm and its light-hearted body horror allowing for a fun, oozy time.
ScreenHub: Toot Games is pursuing fun and silliness with My Arms Are Longer Now
Burger Bois (Mischief Makers Studio), another returnee, was also a hit on the show floor with its moreish burger-making gameplay encouraging players to experiment with ingredients to meet puzzle criteria. While currently undated, this game is looking more and more delicious with every showing.
Foodomina also proved very popular with its hyper pink-coloured demo station and eye-catching pixel art. In this adventure, you play as two food girls – Takoyaki and Tempura – who must fight mould-people as they make their way across a mouth-watering, food-themed galaxy.
Elsewhere, highlights included new looks at Middle Management (Headplug Games), The Isle of Lost Bees (Triple Bee Games), Cooking for MA! (Tuatara Tea Party), Batography (SporkTank), Dungeon Pizza (Blab Labs) and plenty more besides.
The indie game area was often so packed it was difficult to nab a demo spot – but given what that means for the popularity of Australian and New Zealand-made games, you can’t begrudge this difficulty too much. Even with international game studios turning up to show off the latest and greatest in AAA games, that the indie section held its own is admirable.
The international smorgasbord of games and guests
As well as local flavour, PAX Aus 2026 also played host to a handful of international game studios, bringing new and upcoming games to their Australian audiences.
Nintendo had one of the biggest booths on the show floor, with multiple demo stations offering a chance to play Nintendo Switch Sports, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave and several other newly-released Nintendo games.
Square Enix also had a major presence, bringing new footage of Final Fantasy 7 Revelation for a theatre-style presentation (no hands-on, unfortunately) as well as a glimpse at Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold in an enormous and well-decorated booth.
It only competed with Activision Blizzard for real estate on the show floor, with this team bringing a major demo of World of Warcraft: Forever in a booth packed with demo stations and frequently home to talented cosplayers showing off their latest armoured creations.
Activision Blizzard also revelled in the legacy of World of Warcraft this year in a major panel with Executive Producer Holly Longdale. The line for this particular panel was enormous, and it was clear there was a great love for the franchise and how it’s encouraged and inspired its community for over two decades.
Elsewhere in panels, attendees learned more about PlayStation games (Saros), the power of community, resilience and pivoting, and even more about the culture and community of games with talks from local and international guests – including the excellent, insightful Austin Creed, professional wrestler and content creator.
With the excitement and chatter around the show floor, it was easy to be swept into the tide of joy and play, and even to learn a few important lessons about thriving along the way.
TCGs are popping off in 2026
For what felt like the first time ever, it was actually a different part of the show floor that really exceeded my expectations this year. The tabletop hall felt like a massive party, and it was here that the vast majority of folks were packed in and loving life.
This year, vendors including Cherry Collectables, Bandai Card Games, Riot Games and Wizards of the Coast all brought their A-game, with various learn-to-play areas hosting beginner matches, tournaments and other special events. Many of the booths had promo cards and special bundles on offer – which might have been part of the appeal – but there was also a genuine and patient engagement with so many of these stalls.
Everywhere you looked, someone was playing a card game. Whether it was battles in Magic: The Gathering or its nearest competitor Riftbound, there was always some card-based shenanigans taking place.
ScreenHub: MTG Reality Fracture is a creative, flavourful set with surprising synergies
The Cyberpunk 2077 TCG proved particularly popular, with this booth heaving throughout all three days of PAX Aus. By hearsay, it sounds like the entire stock of this TCG ended up sold out by the end, as some attendees reported missing out.
The learn-to-play section for the new Naruto TCG was also humming, with the lines capped early on as everyone turned up keen to play this new card game heading into its 2027 release date (personally, I was very keen and missed out by a few hours).
My favourite TCG experience during PAX Aus 2026 actually arrived thanks to Cherry, in the learn-to-play section for the Neopets Battledome TCG. This particular card game didn’t get an Australian release date when it first arrived worldwide in 2024, and I was bitterly disappointed at the time.
Now, years on, it’s finally reached the Australian market and I was so excited to learn how to play.
With a great deal of patience, I learned all about playing Neopets, painting them with a Rainbow Paint Brush, and how Equipment, Faeries, Legends and PetPets work. I’m very keen to continue my sessions, and see where the world of this TCG takes me. It was fantastic to sit down with a knowledgeable companion and gain such deep insights into the game and how fun it was.
As was made clear throughout PAX Aus 2026, play comes in all forms. Whether to seek community and bolster friendships, to have something tangible to collect, or to have an ongoing hobby that’s consistently rewarding, it does appear more people than ever are playing card games. Given their merits and how they encourage being social, playing and having fun, that’s a very lovely development overall.
The continued importance of PAX Aus
Throughout PAX Aus 2026, it was the individual moments that illustrated why the event remains so important. It was seeing strangers become friends over trading card games. It was seeing the excited shouts and requests for pictures over beautifully-made cosplays representing a favourite game. It was seeing the gleam in player’s eyes as they discovered cool new locally-made games.
Every part of the puzzle illustrated the full scope of the local Australian games community, in a tangible and visual way that highlighted just how diverse and just how big the audience for games really is.
Reports place attendances at 85,000 over a three day period, from those popping in to enjoy games, purchase games, chat to folks, attend panels, dress up or make new friends. And those were just the folks able to travel to Melbourne, or who lived in Melbourne, and were in a good position to roam the show floor.
The games community is not a siloed group. It’s not only folks sitting at home playing games alone. The community is a vast entity with varying interests and backgrounds, all joined by a love for play in all its many forms.
PAX Aus 2026 was a chance for that community to gather and share their love, in a way that allowed everyone attending to feel its pure, beating heart.
Even as the news landscape around games speaks of economic hardship and turmoil, it’s always good to remember why games are made, and what power and magic they hold for the people playing them.
Long live games.
