PAX Aus 2025: Sweat, Speedruns and Silk-LONG Lines Out the Door!

PAX Aus returned to its spiritual home at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre from 10–12 October 2025.

Over three jam-packed days, gamers, developers, cosplayers, tabletop nerds and esports fans all flooded the halls, ready to play, learn, compete and connect. Here’s what went down.

Expos & Demos

The main expo hall was a buzzing ground zero. Big names like Nintendo, Xbox, Bethesda, and Ubisoft were on the floor showing off their new hardware, with exclusive demos and hands-on reveals you’d have a hard time finding elsewhere in the land down under.

The lines were so long for the Nintendo Booth, but mostly worth it for fans.

Indie devs got a spotlight via PAX Rising and the Aus Indie Showcase, putting fresh, experimental ideas right in front of the crowd, including exclusive, first-time demos. I got to experience a whole bunch of them as well as speak with the people who made them, and I was quite impressed with what the Aussie and Kiwi devs were cooking up. Even though a few of the more ambitious titles needed a dash of polish, it’s amazing to see the level of creativity and quality brimming from these smaller studios.

Canvas City: Who would’ve thought that skate-based momentum skills mixed with a tactical turn-based RPG would work so well?
Davy Jones’ Deckhand: The art style got me here on this deck-builder.
Headlice: Yep, it’s a reverse horror game starring a crab-parasite thing. Funny stuff.

For the nerdy tech fans, there were also aisles of peripherals to gawk at. From custom rigs to boutique gaming tech, MSI, Thermaltake, Keychron and co. were ready for business. I personally enjoyed testing out the clickety-clackiness of the mechanical keyboards and glaring at all the custom rig LED displays. Though that’s just me and my lizard brain, of course.

Esports, Speedrunning & Tournaments

PAX Arena brought the competitive spirit front and centre. As high-stakes matches and exhibition bouts ran from local and international teams throughout all three days. On the lighter side: live shows like the Just Dance stage, Jackbox stage, cosplay events and chill zones offered space to rest, watch or just absorb the energy. And boy, it got tiring moving around so much, that’s for sure.

Have you played Jackbox Games with this many people?

The Speedrunning Stage was packed, delighting the crowd with speed demons blitzing through iconic titles. I made sure to check out the Banjo-Kazooie speedrun on the Saturday, as there was no way I was missing one of my favourite childhood titles get ripped to shreds. Big shoutout to the Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix speedrun on the Sunday too. I watched from home and was seriously impressed with how BryanBrews2000 utterly blitzed through it.

While I didn’t have much time to check it out, the Freeplay and open consoles meant that you could drop into casual matches of a number of different games, all while testing out upcoming releases like Pokémon Legends: Z-A and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond with your mates.

Standout Moments

The energy of the community shone. Even when lines were long at PAX (and they were), people bonded over shared hype, swapped tips, shouted over each other in panels and cosplayers lit up every hallway. I was kicking myself that I didn’t arrive in time to attend ‘Sculpting Little Guys with Foam Clay: Hornet from Silksong’ because that would’ve been hype. I got there about 30 minutes early, but the line was already at max capacity. I guess people love their crafting, ey?

At least I got to see Hornet and friends in the flesh!

Panels with some surprising depth stood out: talks about narrative, musical orchestras, ethics in games, design paths and creator journeys drew packed rooms that people were pumped to witness. These are the moments that elevate PAX beyond just a playing-the-latest-games-and-cosplay kind of event.

It can’t be avoided: accessibility & pacing issues still get whispered about. Huge crowds, overlapping schedule conflicts and exhaustion are part of the PAX rite of passage. But many longtime attendees adapt, planning carefully and accepting that there’s always more you “wanted” to see than one person physically can.

The Takeaway

PAX Aus 2025 delivered on the promise of a true gamer homecoming—massive, messy, joyfully chaotic—but with heart. It hit all the big expectations, but also honoured what keeps people coming back: human moments, surprise standouts, the thrill of discovery and the pure catharsis of being surrounded by fellow fans.