Freeplay is Australia's longest-running and largest independent games festival.

Established in 2004, Freeplay embraces the fringes, spotlights grassroots makers, and acts as a response to and critique of the status quo. We invite artists, designers, coders, writers, players, makers, critics, academics, and students for a celebration of the artistry of independent games & playful culture beyond the mainstream.

Join us in 2019 for Freeplay’s 15th year anniversary!

You can watch Freeplay 2019’s recorded sessions below:

Conference talks Online sessions

Latest News

Freeplay 2018 – Keynotes & Theme Reveal

Mar 21, 2018 | Announcements

After several months of preparation and hard work, the Freeplay team is proud to reveal 2018’s keynotes and theme! We’re thrilled to announce that 2018’s theme is INTERSECTIONS, and our international keynote speakers are Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn from Tale of Tales, and curator of Playful Arts Festival, Zuraida Buter.

Meet 2018’s Programme Committee

Mar 14, 2018 | Announcements

We have some sweet news to share with you really soon, but before we do we wanted to introduce you to our fantastic 2018 Programme Committee. Built up of creatives from intersecting disciplines, these lovely folks will help shape the series of talks and panels that will take place at Freeplay this year, ensuring the discussions and conversations are relevant to contemporary games culture discourse.

Announcing 2018 Freeplay Awards & Festival Dates

Feb 22, 2018 | Announcements, Events

A huge hello and welcome to 2018 from the Freeplay family! We have lots of exciting things to share with you this year. First on our list is the 2018 festival dates. We’re happy to announce that we have a six-day festival planned for this year, from May 22nd to May 27th. We’re also happy to announce that submissions for the 2018 Freeplay Awards are now open!