GAMING: Indie games are slowly dominating PAX Australia

If you ever needed a sign that indie games are becoming the focus Australia’s largest gaming expo, PAX Australia, look no further than Melbourne’s Cult of the Lamb.

In years past, Massive Monster’s unique rogue-like occupied a small stall as part of the PAX Rising indie game section of the exhibition. Last year, the game ran a stand out in the main hallway of the exhibition building, separating it from the indies.

This year, it hosted one of the most visually striking pop-ups at the event, promoting its new add-on content for the game, Woolhaven.

It’s just one example of an interesting trend at the event, which yesterday confirmed it hosted 85,000 attendees over the weekend. The number of indies at the event has grown steadily over time.

This year saw it host over 100 separate up-and-coming video games including a showcase from CODE, a New Zealand economic development initiative aimed at growing its emerging game industry.

Event organisers, RX Global, couldn’t confirm the number of indie games at the event in time for this publication deadline. (I’ll update this story if they get back to me). But reporters attending the event kept their own tallies via Excel sheets documenting the event.

Renee O’Flynn, who writes for Qualbert,  counted 104 indie games on display this year, up from 90 in 2024. The count comes as part of a broader process for O’Flynn that she’s run for the past few years, where she produces videos for all of the indie games on display.

Indie games on the rise

The growing number of local indie games at PAX Australia each year
As collated by journalist Renee O’Flynn.

Another reporter, Meghann O’Neill, formerly of PC Powerplay, had a much higher count, noting over 150 games on the floor. As O’Neill told Infinite Lives, documenting this trend is problematic. In years gone by, she only counted PC games given her former job, and then further down the line went on to include student games in her count too.

“What I did observe is that the indie section started out with 28 PC games in the first year, then grew each year by tens of games,” O’Neill said. “It’s been at over 100 since before COVID, and steady at around 130+ since.”

“This year, including student games, and STEM games, my son and I counted 150, and I’ve since been made aware of around 10 more.”

While the exact number is a little hazy, both results trend in the same direction. It’s representative of the changing nature of the broader games industry. Both indie and AA games are gaining on their big-budget counterparts, a recent report from Stream Hatchet indicating that the former accounted for 48% of revenue on Steam in 2024.

Cult of the Lamb may be the first game to graduate from a niche indie stall to a massive activation at PAX Australia. But if current trends hold, it will be far from the last.

But who else was at PAX?

Friday used to be the best day to go. Now, its as packed as the other days.

Building on Infinite Lives’ account of the event last year, there’s a lot you can infer from who is and isn’t exhibiting on the show floor, especially given it’s the only event of its kind in this region.

More broadly, individual major publishers shunned the expo floor this year. Growing production cycles and uncertain release dates of many major games can make it tough to both plan and run a stall, which have to be booked months in advance. In years gone by, it would be reasonable to expect a demo or just some marketing for major games we know are coming out next year, like Grand Theft Auto 6 or Resident Evil Requiem. But those times appear to be well and truly behind us.

Nintendo and Microsoft, both armed with new hardware to sell, were there in full force. Nintendo was even retailing Switch 2 consoles out of its stall, offering free postcards and posters with purchases; perhaps a sign that it sees more room for growth in the Australian market. It was one of the few countries globally where the console did not immediately sell out at launch.

Microsoft, on the other hand, was eager to demonstrate the omni-channel nature of its Game Pass offering, while perhaps dodging questions on its recent price rise. It demoed games on Xbox, PC and also its new ROG Ally console.

Interestingly, despite launching the Steam Deck at PAX Australia last year to much acclaim, Valve was nowhere to be seen. Though, plenty of indie game stalls were stocking Steam Decks for game demos. And in an interesting measure of Sony’s internal sentiment around the chances of the PS5 Pro in the Australian market, it didn’t host its own stall this year either.

And … that fire alarm

Turns out evacuating the exhibition hall is a bit of an ordeal.

It’s also worth covering off on the one aspect of PAX Australia that did have cut-through more broadly: the fire alarm on Saturday afternoon. How do I know? My family asked about it at Sunday night dinner.

Accounts vary. It was pretty expedient and uneventful for me, aside from the hive of Spider-Man cosplayers climbing onto a sculpture and managing the crowd. I wish a grabbed a photo.

For others however, it was a bit of a confusing slog. But, if there’s a winner to be had here, it’s the surrounding pubs. The alarm packed out both nearby venues: The Boatbuilder’s Yard and The General Assembly.

Did you attend PAX this year? What did you think of the event? And how do you feel about indie games growing influence and importance at PAX? Let me know in the comments. I’ll have a wrap of some of the best indie games I played on the show floor ready early next week. Catch you then.

• Harrison Polites writes the Infinite Lives newsletter. Follow him here.

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