Australian games ยท Melbourne
Game studios Melbourne: who makes games in the city
Melbourne is the centre of Australian game development, home to studios behind Untitled Goose Game, Cult of the Lamb, Crossy Road and a long run of sports games. Here they are, with links.
Highvale Studios3 October 20265 min read
Quick answer
Melbourne game studios include PlaySide Studios, Big Ant Studios, House House (Untitled Goose Game), Massive Monster (Cult of the Lamb), League of Geeks (Armello), Hipster Whale (Crossy Road), Mountains (Florence), Beethoven & Dinosaur (The Artful Escape), Ghost Pattern (Wayward Strand), Paper House (Paperbark), Torus Games and EA's Firemonkeys (Real Racing 3).
The studios
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PlaySide Studios
Melbourne, VIC
Original and licensed games for console, PC and mobile (various)
Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
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Studios and games from each studio's own site or Wikipedia, checked 3 October 2026. Listing is not an endorsement, and no studio paid to appear.
Why so many studios are in Melbourne
Melbourne has the largest cluster of game developers in Australia, and it grew for a few reasons. Victoria's government has backed games through its screen agency, now VicScreen, for many years, with funding for new games and for studios to grow. The city has several universities and colleges that teach game design, art and programming, so studios can hire locally. And the success of Melbourne-made games such as Crossy Road, Untitled Goose Game and Cult of the Lamb has drawn more talent and investment to the city.
Kinds of studio you will find
- Independent studios make their own games, often with small teams: House House, Massive Monster, League of Geeks, Ghost Pattern and Paper House are examples on this list.
- Larger developers run bigger teams and make games for several platforms, such as PlaySide Studios, which is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, and Big Ant Studios, known for sports games.
- Publisher-owned studios work inside an international company, such as EA's Firemonkeys, the team behind Real Racing 3.
- Work-for-hire studios build, port or support games for other companies, as Torus Games has done for decades.
- Mobile and casual studios make games for phones, as Hipster Whale did with Crossy Road.
Studying game development in Melbourne
Melbourne's universities and private colleges offer courses in game design, game programming, 3D art and animation, from short courses to degrees. When choosing one, look at what graduates have gone on to make, whether students finish real games and show them publicly, and whether teachers have shipped games themselves. Game jams, where teams build a small game over a weekend, are an easy way to start and to meet people already working in the industry.
Getting a job at a Melbourne studio
Studios hire on what you can show. Build a small portfolio of finished work, even tiny games, with a clear note of what you did on each. Programmers should show playable builds and code; artists should show work in the style the studio uses; designers should show games or levels they built and what they learned. Follow the studios you like, watch for openings on their websites, and go to local events, where many first jobs start with a conversation.
Working with a Melbourne studio
If you are a business, a museum or an educator who wants a game made, many Melbourne studios take outside projects alongside their own games. Prepare a short brief: what the game is for, who will play it, the platforms, the timeframe and the budget range. Ask to see similar work and how the studio handles testing, launch and support after release.
Support for Melbourne developers
VicScreen runs funding programs for Victorian game developers, and the federal Digital Games Tax Offset supports eligible studios' spending on new games. Co-working spaces for game developers, industry groups and meetups give small teams a place to work and share advice. The federal government publishes who can claim it.
Games made in Melbourne you may have played
Melbourne studios are behind some of the best-known Australian games: House House's Untitled Goose Game, Massive Monster's Cult of the Lamb, Hipster Whale's Crossy Road, League of Geeks' Armello, Mountains' Florence, Beethoven & Dinosaur's The Artful Escape, Ghost Pattern's Wayward Strand and Firemonkeys' Real Racing 3. The range runs from tiny phone games to console releases, which is part of what makes the city's industry resilient: when one kind of game slows, another keeps studios busy. Our list of Australian video games covers games made across the country.
Starting your own studio in Melbourne
Many Melbourne studios began as two or three people working on a single game. If you are starting out, keep the first game small enough to finish, register a business and a name early, keep records of your development spending for grants and tax offsets, and show the game at local events to find players and publishers. Talk to other developers before signing a publishing or funding deal, because terms vary widely. A finished small game teaches more, and opens more doors, than an unfinished large one.
Where Melbourne's studios are
Melbourne's game studios are spread across the inner city and inner suburbs, from the CBD and Southbank to Fitzroy, Collingwood, Richmond and South Melbourne, with co-working spaces for game developers hosting many small teams. Most studios do not take visitors and some work largely remotely, so the best way to meet them is through events, meetups and their public channels rather than at the door.
Melbourne compared with other cities
Brisbane is home to Halfbrick, Witch Beam and Krome Studios, Adelaide to Team Cherry and Mighty Kingdom, and Sydney to SMG Studio, among others. Melbourne's cluster is larger than any of them, which means more studios hiring, more events and more peers to learn from, but also more competition for each role and each funding round. See our Australian game studios guide for every state.
We list Melbourne studios that have released games or announced projects publicly, with links to their own websites, and update the list as studios open, close or move. Inclusion is not a ranking or an endorsement, and we do not publish headcounts or revenue, because they are rarely reported consistently.
Meeting Melbourne's game industry
Melbourne International Games Week, held each October, brings the city's studios together with events across the week, including PAX Australia. It is the easiest way to see who is working here.