Australian Game Developer and Ignyte Awards announce 2026 winners

The 2026 Australian Game Developer Awards (AGDAs) were held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre during Melbourne International Games Week. Hosted by Jordan Raskopoulos and Lee Naimo, the ceremony recognized excellence across the Australian games industry.

Tempo Lab Games’ ‘Bits & Bops’ received multiple honors, including Excellence in Visual Art, Excellence in Gameplay, Excellence in Sound Design, and Excellence in Accessibility. Beethoven & Dinosaur’s ‘Mixtape’ won for Excellence in Narrative, Excellence in Music, and was a nominee for Game of the Year.

In the literary sector, the 2026 Ignyte Awards celebrated achievements in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Key winners included Stephen Graham Jones for Outstanding Adult Novel with ‘The Buffalo Hunter’, Trang Thanh Tran for Outstanding Young Adult Novel with ‘They Bloom at Night’, and Naseem Jamnia for Outstanding Mystery with ‘The Glade’. Amal El-Mohtar also secured a win for Outstanding Novella with ‘The River Has Roots’.